By AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

Few days after the Kaduna State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) conducted qualifier examination for aspirants for its local government election, about 500 widows in black attires on Tuesday stormed the party’s  secretariat to protest the disqualification of their preferred aspirant.

The widows, however, begged Governor Nasir El-Rufai to upturn the decision of the party which disqualified Ekene Abubakar Adams as an aspirant for Chikun Local Government Area Chairmanship position.

Leader of the widows, Lami Danladi said the disqualification of Adams was a slap on the faces of the widows from Chikun, because “Ekene is our Messiah and breadwinner.”

The widows, who were dressed in black attires, signifying their displeasure for the disqualification of their preferred aspirant, carried placards bearing inscriptions such as “Ekene is our Choice,” “It is Ekene We Want,” and “El-Rufai, Please, Listen to the Cry of the Widows,” among others.

“The widows are up to 500 in number.

Read Also; Kaduna APC conducts exams for chairmanship aspirants

“We have children and dependents, and it is Ekene Abubakar Adams, the APC aspirant for Chikun Local Government Area that has been taking care of us. He is the hope of the masses. He is a man with great passion. He is a man that touched the lives of the widows.

“It is Ekene that is feeding the widows in Chikun Local Government Area. He empowered women and widows with grinding machines which they use in making profits on a daily basis.

“We are not happy that Ekene, who is impacting positively on the lives of the people and wiping the tears of the widows has been disqualified from contesting the Chairmanship position of Chikun Local Government Area.

“We are here to appeal to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, the man of fairness and justice to reconsider Ekene for the election. He is like a father to Ekene. The governor is a workaholic, so also is Ekene. The governor needs to work with Ekene to move the local government forward.

“We are in black attires because we are not happy that our choice aspirant for the Chairmanship position has been dropped. But governor El-Rufai should listen to our cry and return the man that our hearts are after. We know that you are a governor that listens to the masses.

“We appeal to Governor El-Rufai to allow our preferred candidate to contest. We are widows, listen to our cry.

“This is democracy; the leader we want is Ekene Abubakar Adams.”

“The governor should look into the work of the screening committee and allow Ekene to contest. He is the only leader we want because he cares for the widows. He is the choice of the people.

Recall that Kaduna APC had released the results of its screening of aspirants for local government council elections.

The APC in the state had conducted a screening examination for aspirants. The examination, held on April 22, was supervised by a 17-member panel, including professors, PhD holders and lawyers.

At the end of the exercise, 38 of the 105 aspirants for the 23 local government councils were disqualified.