Hundreds of All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Zamfara State were left waiting for hours on Wednesday after officials expected to conduct a court-ordered rerun primary election failed to show up.
Naija News understands that the exercise, meant to select the party’s candidate for the Kaura Namoda/Birnin Magaji Federal Constituency, could not begin because members of the APC Primary Election Committee were absent from the designated centres.
Party members had arrived early at different ward voting centres across the constituency, ready to take part in the direct primary.
However, they waited for hours without seeing the officials or voting materials needed for the exercise.
Checks across the constituency showed that several voting centres were filled with party members waiting to cast their votes.
The committee members, reportedly sent from the APC National Secretariat in Abuja, had also not arrived at the central collation centre located at the Kaura Namoda Local Government Secretariat.
The delay also left security operatives deployed to maintain order at the venue with nothing to oversee.
Personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service were stationed at the secretariat but remained on standby as the election failed to commence.
The situation reportedly increased frustration among party members who had turned out for the court-ordered exercise.
The Zamfara State APC Chairman, Kabiru Moyi Birnin Magaji, has yet to issue any official statement on the development as of the time of filing this report.
