As the people of Adamawa State prepare for a supplementary governorship election on Thursday, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has urged its supporters to turn out massively and peacefully for the poll.
The state PDP Chairman, Tahir Shehu, made the appeal on Wednesday in a statement in Yola.
Shehu alleged that the state government, led by All Progressives Congress, was planning to import thugs from Kaduna and Kano States to cause mayhem and manipulate the process to ensure victory for the APC candidate and incumbent, Muhammadu Jibrilla Bindow.
He urged the security agencies to rise up to the occasion.
He said: “We find it necessary to draw the attention of all security agencies to take note and put eyes on the development.
“We equally call on all the good and peace loving citizens of Adamawa State, particularly our party supporters, to remain calm and resolute to ensure that they peacefully come out en masse to exercise their franchise without any fear of intimidation or harassment.”
Shehu also urged voters in the 44 polling units in 14 local government areas where the election would take place to be vigilant and security conscious and to report any unfamiliar faces at their units to security agents.
However, the State Organising Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Ahmed Lawan, refuted the allegation and added that APC was considering boycotting the election because it was against fixing it on Thursday.
“We are protesting fixing the election for Thursday and will not participate if INEC is going ahead with Thursday; so, the issue of importing thugs is laughable and only re-enforces our suspicion that INEC is collaborating with PDP,” Lawan said.
Meanwhile, the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Kassim Gaidam, has called for a peaceful election.
Gaidam noted that past elections in the state were peaceful and the same trend was expected on Thursday.
He said: “The people of Adamawa are peace loving and well behaved; we just concluded a rerun and supplementary election for House of Assembly last Saturday in about 100 units peacefully.
“It was peaceful with no single unit cancelled.
“We, therefore, expect usual support and cooperation from stakeholders for another peaceful poll so that the name of Adamawa will be written in gold.”
The Adamawa State governorship election was declared inconclusive and the supplementary poll to determine a winner could not hold on Saturday due to a court order that was vacated on Tuesday.
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