People Democratic Movement (PDM), Katsina state chapter, has withdrawn its candidates from the forthcoming local government election due to what it described as “aberrant approach” of the state independent electoral commission (SIEC).
A chieftain of the party, Barrister Mamman Abubakar Danmusa, disclosed this yesterday at a press conference.
He said the party would not participate in the August election due to the shoddy arrangement from the electoral commission against the opposition parties in the state.
The party accused the SIEC for favoring the ruling party even before the election, saying that the guide line of the election was designed to kick-out the opposition parties in the state.
Danmusa said: “We in the PDM cannot meet up the guidelines stipulated by the commission; we cannot afford to purchase the SINEC form at the rate of N250, 000 for each Chairmanship aspirants.”
He said the commission denied the party the chance to participate by fixing only 60 days instead of 90 days notice as stated by the constitution.
Danmusa disclosed that the party wrote a complaint to the commission, but the commission turned down their complaint after promising to address the problems.
He said even the fixed time for campaigns was wrong since the state was predominantly Muslims and farmers, who’s peoples cannot conduct campaign during fasting period.
The party also alleged that all the arrangement of the election was done together with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates who were even bragging of winning the election before the election was conducted.
Danmusa appealed to the teeming supporters of the party to remain calm and wait for the next action.
