THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has scheduled all outstanding elections from the National Assembly, Governorship and House of Assembly polls for April 15, 2023.
INEC announced this on Monday, March 27, in Abuja.
The ICIR reports that the Adamawa and Kebbi governorship elections on March 18 are among the inconclusive and rescheduled polls.
There are also inconclusive elections from the National Assembly of February 25.
Declaring the Adamawa governorship election inconclusive on March 20, INEC explained that its decision was due to the margin of votes recorded in the election by the contestants.
According to the electoral body, the cancelled votes were more than the margin of victory between the top two candidates.
The incumbent governor of the state, who contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ahmadu Fintiri, polled 421,524. His closest rival, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Aishatu Dahiru (popularly known as Binani), secured 390, 275.
The margin between the two contestants is over 30,000 votes, which INEC said was less than the cancelled votes.
Fintiri was declared the winner in 13 of Adamawa’s 21 local government areas, while Binani won eight LGAs.
The ICIR reported how INEC declared the Kebbi State governorship poll inconclusive on March 20.
The INEC returning officer Yusuf Sa’idu, a Professor at Danfodio University in Sokoto, announced the development at the collation centre in Birnin Kebbi.
He said cancellations occurred across several Registration Areas (RAs) in various voting districts in 20 of the 21 Local Government Areas in the state.
According to him, the declaration of the election as inconclusive was in line with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
“Sub-section three of section 51 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, Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu of the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, hereby declare the gubernatorial election in Kebbi State inconclusive,” he said.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]