Civil Society Organisations Disown Group Calling For Cancellation Of Kano Guber Election

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The Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, CISLAC and the Kano Civil Society Elections Situation Room, have distanced themselves from a group they described as “fake civil society” calling for the cancellation of the Kano gubernatorial election.

During a press conference at the Tahir Guest Palace on Saturday, the chairman of TMG, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, alongside the convener of the Kano Civil Society Elections Situation Room, Ibrahim Waiya, said the group calling themselves Accredited INEC Elections Observers are nothing but fake, faceless and politically sponsored people.

Rafsanjani warned that as genuine civil society groups, they are left with no options but to take necessary legal actions against the faceless group using their names to champion sponsored, criminally-inclined and politically-motivated missions.

He said, the spread of the fictitious and malicious group at a time when Nigeria is having its political space heated up is not only worrisome but also alarming and a trend which should be arrested on time.

Rafsanjani warned: “As champions of democracy, we will not allow smear campaigners and people with politically motivated reasons to drag credible Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Kano State and indeed in Nigeria at large into political wars with political parties.”

He added: “TMG, CISLAC and the Kano Civil Society Forum have done incredible work towards electoral reforms in Nigeria since 1998. TMG has championed the democratic path in Nigeria as the foremost elections observation group with the widest membership across the nation.

“We will never interfere with the conduct of elections or seek to interfere with the judicial processes leading up to a redress of grievances resulting from the elections.”

He called on the public to disregard in totality the wild reports making the rounds and using the names of credible organisations to call for the cancellation of the governorship election in Kano.

In the same vein, the convener of the Kano Civil Society Elections Situation Room, Ibrahim Waiya, urged the media to filter credible civil society groups from faceless and sponsored groups who hide under the names of credible organisations to concoct fake stories that suit their narratives.

Waiya called on the authorities to ensure that justice is served on those who perpetrated electoral violence in the 2023 election all over the federation.

“Very importantly also, we have seen how overburdened INEC can be and [therefore] called on the incoming 10th National Assembly to prioritise legislation to establish the Electoral Offenders Tribunal/Commission which will take away the burden from INEC and ensure adequate and timely prosecution of electoral offenders in Nigeria,” Waiya stated.

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