Zamfara APC Withdraws From Bakura Rerun Bye-Election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it has withdrawn its participation in the Bakura State Constituency supplementary election in Zamfara State.

Chairman of the APC Publicity Committee in Zamfara, Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji, disclosed this on Tuesday, a day before the exercise is scheduled to hold.

He explained that the party took the decision to withdraw to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to complete the process.

Birnin-Magaji stated that the decision followed a careful review of last Saturday’s bye-election and the preparedness of the security agencies to guarantee the security of voters during the supplementary election in the 14 affected polling units.

He noted that neither the heads of security agencies nor their representatives attended the stakeholders’ meeting aimed at fine-tuning the measures put in place to ensure the smooth conduct of the supplementary poll.

The party spokesman in Zamfara stressed that the security agencies were critical stakeholders in an electioneering process and their absence at the meeting called for serious concern.

He said the party’s leadership had lodged a formal complaint to INEC to shift the exercise to a more convenient date to ensure all issues arising from the last exercise were properly addressed.

Birnin-Magaji, however, faulted the decision of the electoral umpire to go ahead to fixed December 9 for the supplementary election.