By Muhammad Salisu
Confusion and tension gripped the ADC in Jigawa State on Wednesday as allegations of irregularities, violence, and malpractice forced officials to suspend the collation of primaries for the State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship, and presidential tickets indefinitely.
The development comes after the opposition ADC conducted its primary elections across the country last Saturday to pick candidates for State House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship and presidential positions ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In Jigawa, the troubled exercise began last Monday across the 27 local government areas but quickly became mired in controversy.
NEWSKEEPER learnt that reports of intimidation, factional disputes, cancellation of results and disruption of voting emerged from several councils as the process unfolded.
For more than 48 hours, no winners were declared by the ADC electoral committee, heightening anxiety among party supporters, stalwarts, officials and delegates.
The crisis reached a climax at the Tashir Guests Palace in Dutse, the venue of the collation exercise, where delegates waited for hours as officials struggled to reconcile disputed results.
Our correspondent gathered that the genesis of the delay of the entire process is the keenly contested Governorship primaries election between Hon. Adamu Jumbo and Senator Sabo Nakudu who recently defected to ADC from the ruling APC with hundreds of his supporters across the state.
Announcing the indefinite suspension to journalists on Wednesday, the Chief Returning Officer, retired Deputy Inspector General of Police Zaki Ahmed, said the party could not proceed with declaring a winner.
Ahmed, who was sent from the ADC national headquarters to oversee Jigawa State, said unresolved complaints and irregularities made it impossible to continue.
“Results had been received from 19 out of the 27 local government areas, while officials were still awaiting submissions from Auyo, Roni and Kazaure councils,” he disclosed.
He added that the exercise was marred by serious infractions in some areas, particularly Auyo, Hadejia and Gwaram local government areas.
“There were reports of irregularities and malpractice in some local governments, while Gwaram witnessed threats of violence capable of disrupting the process completely,” Ahmed said.
“In Guri Local Government, there was no election at all due to conflict among factional leaders of the party. Because of these developments, we have decided to suspend the collation exercise,” he stated.
However, the returning officer explained that the collation would resume after the Eid-el-Kabir prayers.
According to him, party officials are expected to reconvene today at the same venue by 2pm to continue the process and possibly declare a winner.
Despite the setbacks, Ahmed commended party members, security personnel and electoral officials for their cooperation throughout the exercise.
“We appreciate the understanding and support of everyone involved. God bless you all,” he added.
Speaking exclusively with the NEWSKEEPER correspondent on the development, an election observer, Mr. Dayyabu Musa disclosed that "the suspension followed days of tension and political horse-trading within the party, as rival camps accused one another of attempts to manipulate delegates."
Musa who said he spent over 48 hours at the collation venue described the atmosphere as charged, with security operatives drafted to maintain order amid growing anxiety.
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