|
Malam Muhammad Awwal left Samaru to Sabon Gari Zaria at around 9pm after visiting a friend of his. He did not foresee any danger on his way back home, Sabon Gari. The 37-year-old’s happy mood was cut short when some youths stopped his car, threatening to burn his car. The youths mistook Malam Awwal as one of the perpetrators of the alleged riggings that characterised the local governments’ elections.
"Before I could explain myself they forced me out of the car and set it ablaze. When I overheard some of the thugs saying that they should also set me ablaze me, I took to my heels. They left the burning car to pursue me. All thanks be to Allah and to my routine exercise, I left them to settle with the dust which my shoes raised. That’s how I lost my car." Awwal said he is neither a politician nor does he participate in politics. "In fact I didn’t even know there was an election that day until my friend, whom I visited, told me during our conversation. Awwal believes that he was only a victim of circumstance. Apart from setting Awwal’s car ablaze, the suspected political thugs have also set the Basawa Development Area Secretariat on fire in the same Sabon Gari local government area. "I was on duty that night when the mob envisaged the secretariat. I couldn’t help but run for my life. They were in their hundreds, while I was alone. As you can see, it is only the remains of the burnt buildings that are there," a guard of the Development Area Secretariat who preferred anonymity told Weekly Trust. The same fate could have befallen the Zaria local government area secretariat but for the decision taken by Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission, which canceled the first ballots of the council’s election. Though there were other intrigues and political maneuvers which led to the cancellation of the first Zaria council election, the refusal of the area’s presiding officer to announce the result of the election saved the council’s secretariat. "Thugs, in droves, were at the secretariat where the results of the elections were collated. They came with gallons of petrol threatening to burn the secretariat if their candidate loses. This frightened the SIECOM officer. He therefore refused to announce the winner. Instead, the election was cancelled. It is true that there are some political maneuvers which led to the cancellation, but the fear of escalation of violence if the results of the elections were announced played a vital role in the cancellation," a PDP stakeholder in Zaria told Weekly Trust. Sabon Gari local government chairman, Alhaji Kasimu Lawal Abubakar (Abasco), said the violence, especially the burning of the Basawa Development Area secretariat was handiwork of politicians who have lost relevance in the state and the local government politics. "If you could remember, after the presidential and gubernatorial elections of last year some unidentified thugs set the Sabon Gari local government main secretariat on fire. That was how the whole secretariat complex was turned to ashes. It is a common sight of regular passers-by of the highway, which passes the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) main campus, employees of Basawa, Sabon Gari local government, development area conducting their bureaucratic duties under the trees at the premises of the burnt secretariat. "We have no option than to take solace under these trees. Our neighbours, the Federal Ministry of Housing, have loaned us some offices for six months but the loaned offices are not enough for us," an employee of the Development area said. "To my understanding, engaging in violence or burning of public buildings is not a sensible way of reacting to election defeat," Alhaji Abubakar said. He added that when public property is destroyed, the consequences will be on all the residents because it is the money meant for other developmental projects that will be used in putting back the destroyed properties to shape. Before that happens, the LG polls’ ashes continue to settle on Zaria.
Views: 1295
|
All sections 
