APC demands removal of Kebbi returning officer over alleged bias
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kebbi has demanded the removal of the Collation/Returning Officer for the governorship election in the state, Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu, over alleged bias.
The Chairman of the Publicity Committee for the APC campaign council in the state, Alhajl Kabiru Sani-Giant, made the call at a media briefing in Birnin Kebbi on Sunday.
He accused the returning of forging an alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The returning officer had on Tuesday declared the state governorship election inconclusive.
Sani-Giant said: “As a matter of urgency, we call on the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, to remove the Kebbi State guber 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 argued that the APC governorship candidate, Dr. Nasir Idris, had already won the March 18 election by a wide margin.
Sani-Giant, who is also the National Coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima ST7 2023, said the results from the election showed that APC’s candidate polled 388,258, while the PDP candidate, Maj.-Gen. Aminu Bande, got 342,980 votes.
“Going by this result, there is no need to declare the election inconclusive. Our candidate 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 added.