Nasir El-Rufai
The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has admitted defeat after losing at his polling unit during the just concluded local government election in the state.
Revealing why he lost, the governor said the vote of the people was not against him but the councillor and the performance of the chairman of the local council.
He noted that the loss was not a referendum on him.
He said the fact that his polling unit was won by the Peoples Democratic Party showed that democracy prevailed.
El-Rufai stated this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Monday.
The Kaduna governor said, “Those that reported that the machines were programmed were ashamed when it was reported that APC lost in my polling unit. People were laughing that I lost my polling unit, but it is democracy that won.
“I’m not on the ballot, so it is not a referendum on me, it is a referendum on the councilor and the performance of the chairman of the local council. The loss of my polling unit shows that we did not programme these machines; we did not influence our independent electoral commission, and the whole thing has worked very well.
“The results of the election so far are a unifying moment for our state which is what we have been working on. We want to work against the narrative that the PDP is a party for a part of the state, while the APC is a party for another. Some people say PDP is a party of religious affiliation, while the APC is that of another.
“The results of the election clearly show that we are finally uniting Kaduna State and people are making choices based on the performance of elected officials.”
El-Rufai also gave an update on what was going on in some of the local governments where elections took place.
He said, “There are issues that came up and the electoral commission is working on them. Two LGAs are still contentious, the results have not been communicated to me. I have been told that in Kachia, one of the LGAs, the election is inconclusive because the machines did not function in many polling units. Soba is awaited, but so far I will say that the exercise has gone reasonably well.
“There is little we can do to avoid thugs snatching electoral machines, but you should know that these machines are programmed to be disconnected remotely by the electoral commission. The machine also provides its GPS location so you can target and go and recover it.”
