Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State Wednesday described those faulting the 1.464 million votes scored by President Muhammadu Buhari in the state as people ignorant of Kano politics.
Ganduje also explained that voters’ apathy was responsible for the inability of the state to redeem the five million votes promised President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 23 presidential election.
The Governor had assured the President that Kano State would give him five million votes but the state only gave 1,464,768 to the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate in the election, while the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, got 391,593 votes.
Though there have been criticisms that the 1,464,768 was not real as some have doubted the result, Governor Ganduje described those questioning the votes as ignorant people that were against democracy.
He said while there were no incidences of violence recorded in the state, 17 local government areas were affected by election cancellation.
Speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when he came to congratulate President Buhari for emerging victorious in the election, Ganduje said the APC victory was an eloquent testimony of what would happen in the forthcoming governorship election.
Asked to react to those questioning the figures that came from Kano State, he said: “First, they are not serious people, they are people who are anti-democracy.
“If you have seen how the election was conducted, I think everybody will agree that INEC tried very well. Even though there was low turn-out of voters because we were expecting to get much more than that, but the election was fair and free. Those who say we couldn’t have got that much are ignorant of the politics of Kano.”
Asked why he did not deliver on the five million votes he promised, Ganduje said: “Well, I told you it’s because of the low turn-out of voters but I promise you next time…let’s look towards the governorship election.
”We gave Mr. President the highest number votes, all the three senators are back, 24 House of Representatives’ members out of 24 have succeeded. What else are you expecting? That is the foundation.
“Another thing is that Mr. President has done a lot of work in Nigeria and in Kano and as a government, we have done a lot in Kano State. If there was negative reaction, we would have seen it from the presidential election.
“That is why I say we are heading for a huge success in Kano, both in the gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections.”
He expressed happiness for the President’s victory, adding that the administration had laid foundation for the development of a new Nigeria.
“We are forging ahead in terms of getting the right thing done in Nigeria. So, I’m here to congratulate him personally before we come as a group from Kano to congratulate him,” the governor said.
