By Bashir Mohammed
Kano
Kano state Independent electoral Commission (KANSIEC) has dismissed the claim by KANSIEC-accredited observers that the recent local government lection was flawed, stage-managed and a rape of democracy.
Reacting to the observers’ claim at a press briefing in Kano, chairman of the Commission, Dr. Sani Lawal Malunfashi, said the smear campaign against KANSIEC was borne out of the commission’s failure to give the observers bribe to earn commendation.
He said: “We can’t give bribe to earn commendation, observing election is a constitutional responsibility and a mark of sacrifice, we cannot be intimidated to promote corruption.”
He said the Commission would never rest on its oars in drawing the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant authorities to take note of future misdemeanors by the so-called Independent Observers.
Malunfashi said since the election was conducted in a free and fair atmosphere there was no reason for KANSIEC to be stampeded into giving bribe to the observers to praise the commission to high heavens.
“Anybody who thinks that he could soil our image simply because we have failed to give bribe can go ahead to say whatever he likes. Go and tell the whole would that there was no election in Kano.”
He wondered why the observers should give a clean bill of health to the Commission and made a sudden u-turn to say that the election was flawed, rigged and ill-prepared, saying that no amount of entreaties would ever make the disenchanted political class to trust “whatever comes out of the Commission.”
