Kebbi Re-Run: State Government Begins Intimidation Of Opponents
Following the preparations for the re-run of Kebbi State governorship election, in which the Independent National Electoral Commission , INEC has announced Saturday, April 15 as the new election, fresh information emerged that the Abubakar Atiku Bagudu-led State government has allegedly commenced intimidation of opponents, especially PDP members.
INEC had declared the Kebbi gubernatorial election inconclusive on the grounds that the poll was marred by irregularities, intimidation as well as “massive vote cancellation and over-voting” in 20 of the 21 Local Government Areas in the state.
Yusuf Sa’idu, INEC collation, and returning officer, said “We aggregated the total number of collected PVCs in those polling units ( where votes were cancelled) 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 said.
Quoting the Electoral Act 2022, Yusuf Sa’idu said: “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. Subsection 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 these provisions and the powers vested in me as the collation and returning officer of the 2023 gubernatorial election in Kebbi State, I, Professor Yusuf Sa’idu of the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, hereby declare the gubernatorial election in Kebbi State inconclusive.”
Piqued by such a decision, the Chairman of APC Kebbi State Publicity Committee for the governorship campaign, Kabiru Sani-Giant, on Sunday, March 26, 2023 called on INEC to remove Professor Yusuf Sa’idu for what he described as “Bias in discharging official responsibility.”
However and in reaction, an independent election observer who has been monitoring the election in Kebbi describes APC’s action as “Childish.”
Continuing, the observer who preferred to be anonymous because he is yet to officially submit his reports said “There have been lots of intimidations of PDP members in Yauri local government area and other parts of Kebbi State by APC because of their desire to win the election at all cost. Governor Atiku Bagudu’s eight years in the saddle have been a failure. That accounts for the reason APC cannot win the State and they know this. People are getting enlightened and they know what is good for them. When our report is out, the world will know everything that happened,” he disclosed.
Further, the election observer noted that the Commissioner of Police deployed on the State, CP Abubakar Lawal has allegedly almost become a tool in the hands of the State government saying that in the 11 Wards in Yauri local government area, the rate at which the State government has been using Police unprofessionally is alarming.
However, clarification requests sent to the known telephone numbers of Commissioner Lawal Abubakar and Nafiu Abubakar, the Command spokesman, were not responded to as of the time of filing this report.
