CANDIDATE of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Ahmed Aliyu has been declared winner of the March 18 governorhip election in Sokoto State.
Aliyu won with a total of 453,661 votes, defeating Saidu Umar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 404,632 votes, in a close race.
The State Collation Officer, Bichi Amaya’u, announced the result in Sokoto on Sunday, March 19.
During Aminu Tambuwal’s initial term as governor, from 2015 to 2019, Aliyu, a loyalist of the current Senator and former governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko, served as the deputy governor.
Aliyu ran for office in 2019 against Tambuwal of the PDP and lost by a narrow margin of 342 votes following a rerun.
Meanwhile, the Kebbi State gubernatorial election was on Monday, March 20 declared inconclusive by INEC.
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 asserted that 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.
A reporter with the ICIR
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