Kebbi election rerun: Change returning officer for credible poll, APC tells INEC

The inconclusive governorship and state Assembly elections in Kebbi State is generating controversy, as Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) Publicity Committee for the state governorship campaign, Kabiru Sani Giant, has called on the National Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to urgently remove the state election Collation Officer, Prof. Yusuf Saidu, for being bias in the just concluded governorship and state Assembly elections.

Briefing journalists, yesterday, Giant said that removal of the Collation Officer would bring credibility to the re-run, adding that APC, in the state, is not comfortable with Sa’idu due to his alliance with other political parties.

He claimed that the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Nasir Idris, has won the election, and should be declared winner of the governorship election, rather than declaring it inconclusive.
Giant said: “I urged INEC’s Returning Officer, Sa’idu, who, yesterday, declared the governorship and state Assembly elections inconclusive due to cancellation of polling unit results in 20 of the state’s 21 councils, should be changed for the re-run elections.”

Gaint, who is also an APC chieftain, said that results from the election showed that APC’s governorship candidate, Alhaji Nasiru Idris, Kauran Gwandu, polled 388,258, while his closest rival, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Major General Aminu Bande (retired), polled 342,980 votes.

“There was no need to declare the election inconclusive. Our candidate won fair and square. 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.

“INEC cancelled election results in some polling units, because of over-voting and violence.

“Remember, the PDP candidate’s wife heads a department in INEC. It was also PDP that triggered violence in some polling units, which were our strongholds.”