THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the March 18 governorship election in Adamawa State inconclusive.
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 is contesting under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ahmadu Fintiri, polled 421,524 while his closed rival, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Aishatu Dahiru (Binani) secured 390, 275.
The margin between the two contestants is over 30,000 votes, which according to INEC, is less than the cancelled votes.
Fintiri was declared winner in 13 of Adamawa’s 21 local government areas while Binani won eight LGAs.
The ICIR had also reported the Kebbi State governorship poll was declared inconclusive by INEC.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M