Austine Emmanuel, Kaduna
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has performed his civic right in Ungwan-Sarkin, Kaduna North Local Government Area of Kaduna State following the ongoing gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections, slated for today, 18th March, 2023.
El-Rufai cast his vote at around 12:00noon, having joined the queue with other voters for about 20 minutes.
The governor who called on Kaduna residents to come out en masse and exercise their franchise, said that the state is peaceful and therefore people should neglect any form of negative rumour.
While commending the exercise, he urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to put up more efforts and ensure they work on their gray areas.
In the same vein, the gubernatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, (APC) and Kaduna lawmaker, Senator Uba Sani, who arrived his polling unit at exactly 12:50pm, alongside his entourage, commended the good people of Kaduna State for coming out to cast their votes peacefully.
He alledged that there were cases of voters intimidation in Kajuru, and Zaria Local Government Areas, noting that INEC is working with opposition party to sabotage the process.
Speaking with journalists shortly after exercising his franchise, the House of Representatives-elect for Kaduna North LGA, Bello El-Rufai, said INEC was doing a great job, adding that he is impressed with the mass turnout of voters.
He stressed that he is optimistic that APC would win the guber race following the good track records of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.
Our Kaduna Correspondent, Austine Emmanuel while filing this report gathered that the turnout across the state was encouraging. Although, it was lower comparatively with the massive crowd recorded during the February 25th presidential and National Assembly elections.