INEC erred in declaring Kebbi guber poll inconclusive, says APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign group in Kebbi State has faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for declaring the governorship election in the state inconclusive.

Deputy Director-General of the group, Alhaji Abubakar Gari, said that the commission erred for declaring the election inconclusive when the governorship candidate of the APC, Dr. Nasir Idris, should have been declared winner.

INEC’s Returning Officer, Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu, had last week Monday, declared the results inconclusive owing to massive vote cancellation and over-voting” in 20 of the 21 local councils in the state.

He said the margin between the two candidates was less than the cancelled votes, hence, the need for a re-run.

Director-General of the campaign group, while speaking with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, said: “Our candidate is leading with 45,278. In some states, candidates were declared winners when the margin is a fraction of that. There is no need for a supplementary election.

“INEC cancelled elections in some polling units because of over-voting and violence. It was the PDP that triggered violence in some of the polling units because they know they are our strongholds.

“Despite PDP’s machinations, we are still very comfortably ahead. Even if INEC conducts supplementary election, we are confident of increasing our margin of victory because all the areas where the polls were cancelled are our strongholds.

“I urge INEC to immediately declare our candidate winner of the election so that the people of Kebbi State, like those of other states, will have peace of mind and go about their normal lives.”

MEANWHILE, a group, Concerned Kebbi State Youth Vanguard, has called on the security agencies and INEC to investigate the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over fake ballot papers, fake INEC officers identity card (ID) and other INEC materials smuggled in the just-concluded governorship and House of Assembly elections.

The leader of the group, Hassan Hassan Yauri, who spoke with journalists yesterday in Birnin Kebbi, said there were reports that PDP members in the state allegedly used fake INEC materials, saying that INEC should investigate the matter and prosecute perpetrators.