Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has expressed concern over the low turnout of voters in the ongoing local government elections in the state.
He made his feelings known on Saturday in Kaduna shortly after casting his vote at the Ungwan Sarkin Polling Unit 001 in the Kaduna North Local Government Area (LGA).
He attributed the low turnout to the late arrival of some of the election materials.
The governor called on residents to come out en masse and vote for the candidates of their choice.
He, however, noted that there was vast improvement in the election process compared to that of 2018.
According to El-Rufai, the electronic voting machine, which is in use, makes it impossible for voters to indulge in multiple voting unlike what obtained in the previous election.
“You activate the voting machine with your voter’s card once you have been accredited. The whole process takes less than 15 seconds. It’s very quick and efficient and you see your ballot paper being printed, ” he said.
The governor said the machine also transmits the result at the end of the voting to a server and so it is very difficult to alter anything,” he said.
“As I said several times, we are not going to behave like other parties or other state governments, we will allow the people of Kaduna State to elect who they want,” he said.
He said APC did not have to win everywhere, adding that it has worked for the people of Kaduna State.
“They have seen our footprints in all the LGAs and all over the state,’’ he said.
The governor expressed confidence that all reasonable and fair-minded people would vote for APC candidates.
“We don’t believe in cheating or rigging elections but also we don’t want other parties to cheat us and that was why we encouraged the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission to come up with a fool-proof voting process,“ he said.
