Lukman Abdulmalik
Citizens for Development and Education (CDE) in collaboration with the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) organized a town hall meeting to sensitize citizens and relevant stakeholders on the conduct of local government council elections.
The event which was held on Wednesday at Aminu Kano Centre for Democratic Studies was attended by various traditional rulers representing different tribal groups, citizens, clerics, and civil society organizations.
Highlighting the essence of the town hall meeting, Executive Director, CDE, Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya stressed that the event was organized as a part of election activities to create awareness, and sensitize the public about the upcoming local government elections.
“We organized it in collaboration with KANSIEC because it’s part of the owner’s responsibility to create awareness on their preparedness for the elections.
“Also, no court has stopped the council from conducting elections, and whether with or not the chairman, the council can still go on to conduct elections, because there are other staff.
Waiya further called on citizens to participate in the election by voting their representatives.
Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar stressed that the LG election is important to the state and it is the right of the people to cast their vote at the local government level.
He advised participants of the town hall to step down the knowledge gained to others and also be good ambassadors of their communities.
Speaking on the preparedness for the LG polls, Prof. Sani Lawal Malumfashi noted that KANSIEC has the constitutional mandate to organize, conduct, and declare election results.
“The council has already done the planning stage, budget exercise, procurement, and release of the election timetable which showcases the entire guidelines for the election.
“We also interacted with the media, political leaders, and securities agencies by organizing a joint security meeting on the sensitivity of the LG election.
“However, the election is indispensable, the council is determined and ready to conduct the LG elections.
He added that the board has been bombarded with a lot of litigation, despite that the election cannot stop.
“Earlier we sort of court order to restrain any organization or individual from interfering in activities of KANSIEC or impeding the election.
“So, we will comply with the pre-existing court order, the LG election in Kano is undefeatable.
“Attempting to stop elections in Kano is an attempt to sophisticate and stop the grants for LG.
“The level of our preparedness we have 11 articles which currently we have attended to 9 and the remaining 2 which will be done on Saturday, conducting elections and declaring the winner.
In their separate goodwill messages, traditional rulers, CSOs, and Faith-Based Organizations called for a peaceful election and advised Kano citizens to turn out and vote judiciously by electing their choice representatives.
