• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

We didn’t use incumbent factor to opposition from winning – Lawan

Crude oil thieves are Nigeria’s worst enemies – Senate president

Ahmad Lawan, the President of the Senate said the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not use incumbency factor to stop the opposition parties from winning elections, even in areas that are the strongholds of the ruling party.

He however expressed optimism that the APC would win governorship election in not let less than the 28 states of the federation.

Lawan said these while speaking with journalists shortly after casting his vote at the Katuzu 002B polling unit in Gashua, Bade Local Government Area of Yobe for the governorship and State House of elections held on Saturday.

The Senate President expressed satisfaction with the exercise conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He commended INEC for introducing the Bimodal Voter Accreditation system (BVAS) which has enhanced electoral credibility and accuracy in the country.

The chairman also lauded the National Assembly for passing the Electoral Act 2022 which gave a legal backing to the use of BVAS in elections.

“I will say kudos to the National Assembly for passing a law amending the electoral act that makes the process of our elections better.

“I think there is still room for improvement, but credit to the National Assembly for giving more roles to technology to decide and influence the outcome of our elections, and mitigate fraud,” he said.

Lawan also hailed the Federal Government for allowing the electoral process to be entirely determined by guidelines and regulations of INEC.

He said:“We did not use our incumbent factor to stop the opposition from winning elections, even in areas that are the strongholds of the APC.”

Meanwhile, Sherif Abdullahi, the People Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for Yobe
pledged to focus on infrastructure and human capital development, if elected.

Abdullahi made the pledge while speaking with journalists after casting his vote at the LEA 002 polling unit in Gashua.