The member representing Kazaure/Roni/Gwiwa/Yankwashi Federal Constituency, Gudaji Kazaure, has accused the Jigawa State governor, Abubakar Badaru, of being responsible for his defeat during the February 25 National Assembly elections.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that Mr Kazaure, who contested on the platform of Action Democratic Congress, ADC, lost his third term re-election bid to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mukthar Mohammed.
Speaking in an interview with DCL Hausa, Mr Kazaure, who came in a distant third, accused Mr Badaru of deploying state apparatus to ensure his defeat.
“You know Governor Badaru has vowed not to allow me return to my seat even though I don’t know what I did to him. And this is somebody who I genuinely loved. I love him the way I love myself and my son.
“The people of my constituency still love me, they are crying to have me represent them. But the governor vowed that I must not return and chased me out of the APC.
“The reason why I’m blaming him again is because he [Badaru] held a meeting with the governorship candidate of my party [ADC], and he pleaded with him to work for the ruling party.
“I don’t have details of the meeting, but the candidate came out and announced his withdrawal from the race and said the party had entered an alliance with the APC.
“He went further to write to the INEC and requested for all the agent tags which were given to him by the commission and kept them in his possession.
“That deprived my agents from having tags to mount the polling booths on election day.”
The lawmaker also alleged that Mr Badaru had directed all council chairmen and all APC chairmen in the state to prevent anybody who was willing to help him canvass for votes.
While insisting that he won the election, Mr Kazaure said he has approached the tribunal to reclaim his mandate after failed attempts to have his grievances addressed by INEC and security agencies.