The Kebbi State All Progressives Congress (APC) has appealed to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu, the Collation/Returning Officer for governorship election in the state.
Alhajl Kabiru Sani-Giant, Chairman, APC Kebbi State Publicity Committee for governorship campaign, while addressing media men in Birnin Kebbi on Sunday, said the call was because of Sa’idu’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 governorship election collation/returning officer, Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu, because of his sentiment and bias in discharging his official responsibility in the last 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 argued that the APC governorship candidate, Dr Nasir Idris, had already won the March 18 election with a wide margin.
He added that their candidate was supposed to be declared winner of the election, “but the collation/returning officer went ahead to declare it inconclusive.”
Sani-Giant, who is also the National Coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima ST7 2023, said that the results from the election showed that APC’s candidate polled 388,258, while his closest rival, PDP candidate, retired Maj.-Gen. Aminu Bande, 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,
He noted that INEC cancelled election results in some polling units because of over voting and violence, insisting that the law states that any polling unit cancelled due to violence would 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,” he said
INEC two weeks ago declared the election in Kebbi as “inconclusive”.
Sa’idu of the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto said there were cancellations in 20 of the 21 Local Government Areas of Kebbi State, cutting across a number of Registration Areas (RAs) in different polling units.
“We aggregated the total number of collected PVCs in those polling units and it came to a total of 91,829.
“And when we checked the results, the two leading political parties in this contest, APC and PDP polled 388,258 and 342,980 votes respectively. When we looked at the difference, it stands at 45,278.”
He noted that they had no option than to refer to the electoral laws on page 31 of the Electoral Act 2022, section 51 sub-sections two and three for guidance.
The section reads: “Where the number of votes cast in an election in any polling unit exceeds the number of accredited voters in that polling unit, the presiding officer shall cancel the result of the election in that polling unit.
“Sub section three of section 51 also states that where the result of an election is cancelled in accordance with sub-section two, there shall be no return for the election until another poll has taken place in the affected polling unit.
“By virtue of this provisions and the powers vested in me as the collation and returning officer of 2023 gubernatorial election in Kebbi State, I, Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu of the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, hereby declare the gubernatorial election in Kebbi State inconclusive.”
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