Politics

Guber poll: Kebbi APC calls for INEC Returning Officer’s removal

The Kebbi State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove the Collation/Returning Officer for the governorship election in the state, Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu.

The Chairman, APC Kebbi State Publicity Committee for governorship campaign, Kabiru Sani-Giant, said this while speaking with journalists in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, on Sunday.

Sani-Giant said the call was because of the Returning Officer’s alliance with a political party.

“As a matter of urgency, we call on the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, to remove the Kebbi State gubernatorial election Collation/Returning Officer, Prof. Yusuf Saidu, because of his sentiment and bias in discharging his official responsibility in the last gubernatorial election.

“This will bring sanity to the re-run of the gubernatorial elections because the APC in the state is not comfortable with the collation officer due to his alliance with other political parties,” he stated.

Sani-Giant noted that the APC governorship candidate, Dr Nasir Idris, has already won the March 18 election with a wide margin, adding that the party’s candidate was supposed to be declared winner of the election “but the Returning Officer went ahead to declare it inconclusive”.

The Kebbi APC chieftain said the election results showed that the party’s candidate polled 388,258 votes, while his closest rival and PDP candidate, Maj.-Gen. Aminu Bande (Rtd) polled 342,980 votes.

“Going by this result, there is no need to declare the election inconclusive. Our candidate has won straight away, because he is leading with 45,278 votes.

“In some states, candidates were declared winners when the margin was a fraction of that. There is no need for a supplementary election,” he said.

Sani-Giant noted that INEC cancelled election results in some polling units because of over-voting and violence, stressing that the law states that any polling unit cancelled due to violence will automatically record zero vote.

“Remember, the PDP candidate’s wife heads a department in INEC. It was also the PDP that triggered violence in some of the polling units because they knew that such polling units are our strongholds.

“I, therefore, urge INEC to immediately declare our candidate as the winner of the election so that the people of Kebbi State will have peace of mind and go about their normal business,” the Kebbi APC chieftain added.

The Star