THE Independent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) has declared Emeka Ihedioha and Darius Ishaku, both candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winners of the gubernatorial elections in Imo and Taraba states respectively.
The results were announced in the early hours of Tuesday, three days after the election was held.
In Imo State, Ihedioha, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, polled a total of 273,404 votes to defeat Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA) whose votes totalled 190,364.
Nwosu is a son-in-law to the incumbent Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha.
In third place, with a total of 114, 676, is Ifeanyi Ararume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hope Uzondima, came a distant fourth with 96,458 votes.
On the other hand, Darius Ishaku secured a second term in office with a total vote of 520, 433. His challenger, Sani Danladi of the APC whose total votes stood at 362, 735.
The result ensured that the PDP maintained its grip in Taraba State since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
In Kano state, however, it has been a tug of war between the incumbent governor Umar Ganduje, and his PDP rival, Abba Yusuf, as both men were almost neck to neck in terms of votes scored after the results of the 44 local government areas in the state had been collated on Monday.
Yusuf was in the lead with a total of 1,014,474 votes, while Ganduje had garnered 987,819 votes. The difference between the two candidates was 26,655 votes.
But the Returning Officer, Bello Shehu, explained that the number of votes cancelled in 22 local government areas was 141,694, way higher than the margin between the two leading candidates.
Therefore, in accordance with the Electoral Act, the election was declared inconclusive and a supplementary poll would be held in the areas where votes were cancelled within 21 days.
Kano thus joined the five other states where the election has been declared inconclusive, namely: Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Plateau, and Sokoto.