Chaos In Zamfara APC As Court-Ordered Rerun Primary Fails To Begin

Hundreds of All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Zamfara State were left frustrated on Wednesday after a court-ordered rerun primary election for the Kaura Namoda/Birnin Magaji Federal Constituency failed to commence due to the absence of election officials.

According to Bush Radio Academy, the exercise, which was organised to determine the party’s candidate for the federal constituency, could not begin because members of the APC Primary Election Committee failed to arrive at the designated voting centres.

Party members reportedly arrived early at various ward voting centres across the constituency, prepared to participate in the direct primary. However, they waited for several hours without the presence of officials or the voting materials required to conduct the exercise.

Reports from different parts of the constituency indicated that several voting centres had been filled with APC members waiting to cast their votes, but the absence of the committee members prevented the process from taking off.

The officials, who were reportedly dispatched from the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, had also failed to arrive at the central collation centre located at the Kaura Namoda Local Government Secretariat.

The development equally left security personnel deployed to maintain order at the venue on standby, as there was no election activity for them to supervise.

Personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service were reportedly stationed at the secretariat ahead of the exercise.

Their presence, however, did not translate into the commencement of the primary, as the absence of the election committee continued to delay proceedings.

The situation reportedly heightened frustration among party members who had turned out to participate in the court-ordered exercise.

Meanwhile, the Zamfara State APC Chairman, Kabiru Moyi Birnin Magaji, had yet to issue an official statement explaining the circumstances surrounding the failure of the primary election to commence as of the time of filing this report.