There was low voter turnout on Saturday in the by-elections held in parts of Kano State to fill vacant seats in the state House of Assembly.
The exercise was conducted in Ungogo and Nassarawa Local Government Areas to replace the late Aminu Sa’adu, who represented Ungogo Constituency, and Sarki Aliyu Daneji, who represented Kano Municipal before his demise.
A visit to several polling units in Ungogo Local Government Area showed sparse turnout of voters despite the early arrival of election officials and materials.
At Ward 8, Panisau Polling Unit 008, Presiding Officer Mercy Aweh said voting commenced at about 8:00 a.m., but complained that the turnout remained poor hours later.
“By 10:30 a.m., only six people had come to vote. All election materials are intact and we arrived quite early,” she said.
Similarly, at Kera Polling Unit 003, which has 804 registered voters, only 19 persons had cast their ballots as of the time of filing this report. Voting at the unit began at 8:30 a.m.
The Presiding Officer, Sani Kabiru, confirmed that the exercise was proceeding smoothly, though turnout was low.
At Kira Cikin Gari 019 Polling Unit, with 31 registered voters, only four had voted as of 10:51 a.m.
Also speaking, Aisha Sani, Presiding Officer at Ungogo Kudu B Polling Unit 029, said the unit, which has 54 registered voters, commenced accreditation and voting at 8:30 a.m. but recorded only three voters as of 11:02 a.m.
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At Ungogo Kudu I Polling Unit 015, Assistant Presiding Officer Ahmad Bala disclosed that out of 1,378 registered voters, only 77 had voted as of 11:10 a.m.
He added that voting started at 8:30 a.m. and would close at 2:30 p.m. Notably, a reasonable number of women were seen at the unit waiting to exercise their civic rights.
Some voters attributed the low turnout to the ongoing Ramadan fast and what they described as dissatisfaction with the political leadership.
In Nassarawa Local Government Area, where the by-election was conducted to fill the vacant seat in Kano Municipal Constituency, a similar trend was observed.
At Kankarofi Qur’anic School Polling Unit 062, Presiding Officer Khadijah Adam Sani said that out of 101 registered voters, only four had voted as of 12:03 p.m.
Likewise, at Kankarofi Qur’anic School Polling Unit 014, Presiding Officer Usman Mohammed said only 11 out of 814 registered voters had cast their ballots as of the time of filing this report. Voting at the unit commenced at about 8:40 a.m.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state, Ambassador Zango Abdu, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise.
“So far, so good. As far as security is concerned, you can see for yourselves, there is no issue. We really want to appreciate and commend citizens for behaving responsibly. There is no violence or threat whatsoever,” he said.
On the low turnout recorded in many polling units, the REC attributed it to timing and limited participation by political parties.
“First of all, I think the timing — maybe Ramadan. Second, the general feeling that this is a small election involving only a few candidates and parties,” he said.
On the absence of some major opposition parties on the ballot, he maintained that participation in elections is the responsibility of political parties.
“We have not received any accusation. Whoever conducts primaries, submits candidates and satisfies the guidelines as contained in the Electoral Act is cleared. The decision to participate or not lies entirely with the parties,” he added.
