Confusion and uncertainty have continued to trail the African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship primaries in Jigawa State as the party failed to declare winners more than 48 hours after the exercise commenced, amid allegations of irregularities, violence threats and internal disputes.
The prolonged collation process, which began on Monday, stretched into the early hours of Wednesday before the exercise was eventually suspended, leaving delegates, aspirants and party supporters stranded at the collation centre in Dutse, the state capital.
Chairman of the ADC Electoral Committee in Jigawa State, Zaki Ahmed, announced the suspension at about 1:45 a.m. at Tahir Hotel, where collation was ongoing.
Ahmed disclosed that results had only been received from 19 out of the 27 local government areas in the state.
“We have results from 19 local governments out of 27 local governments. We are awaiting results from Kaugama, Auyo, Kazaure, Gwiwa, Hadejia, and Gwaram,” he said.
The electoral committee chairman attributed the delay to irregularities and security concerns recorded in several local government areas during the primaries.
“Babura, Hadejia and Gwaram are characterised by irregularities — threat of violence in Gwaram, malpractices in Hadejia and Babura — and there was no election completely in Guri Local Government as a result of conflict between factional leaders,” Ahmed stated.
He announced that the collation process would resume after Eid prayers.
“We are going to suspend this exercise. We’ll continue tomorrow after Eid prayer. Thereafter, a winner will be declared,” he added.
The delay has heightened tension among party members and supporters as official results for the governorship, State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and presidential primaries in the state remain undeclared.
Findings indicated that the deadlock was largely driven by the fiercely contested governorship race involving Hon. Adamu Jumbo and Senator Sabo Nakudu, whose supporters were reportedly disputing results from several strategic local government areas.
Party faithful who had gathered at the collation centre in anticipation of final announcements waited throughout the night as the process dragged on without conclusion.
Tension also persisted over pending results from Roni, Auyo and Kazaure local government areas, while results from Babura, Hadejia and Gwaram remained under scrutiny following allegations of malpractice and threats of violence.
In Guri Local Government Area, the situation reportedly worsened after clashes between rival factional leaders disrupted the exercise entirely, preventing voting from taking place.
As of the time of filing this report, the ADC had yet to declare winners in any of the major categories of the Jigawa State primaries.
