Adamawa, Kebbi, supplementary polls hold April 15 – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed April 15, 2023, for the conduct of all outstanding governorship, national and state assembly supplementary elections.
This was made known in a statement by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, on Monday.
It would be recalled that 26 governorship, 104 senatorial, 329 national and 935 state assembly elections have been concluded and winners declared.
According to Okoye, after a review by the INEC, supplementary governorship elections will be held in Adamawa and Kebbi states, five senatorial districts, 31 federal and 58 state Assembly constituencies.
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He said, “The commission met today, Monday, 27th March 2023 and reviewed the areas where supplementary elections are required to conclude the outstanding governorship, national and state Assembly elections across the country.
“Consequently, supplementary governorship elections will be held in Adamawa and Kebbi states, five senatorial districts, 31 federal and 58 state Assembly constituencies.
The All Progressives Congress in Kebbi State on Sunday faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission for declaring the governorship election in the state inconclusive.
The APC maintained that INEC made an error by declaring the election inconclusive when its governorship candidate, Dr. Nasir Idris, should have been declared the winner.
The Deputy Director-General of the APC Governorship Campaign Council in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Gari, kicked against the decision in Abuja on Sunday.
The reports gathered that INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Yusuf Sa’idu, had last week declared the results as inconclusive due to massive vote cancellation and over-voting in 20 out of the 21 local government areas in the state.
According to him, while the APC candidate scored 388,358, Mohammed Bande of the Peoples Democratic Party polled 342,980.
“We aggregated the total number of collected PVCs in those polling units and it came to a total of 91,829. And when we checked the results, the two leading political parties in this contest, the APC and the PDP polled 388,258 and 342,980 votes respectively. When we looked at the difference, it stands at 45,278,” Sa’idu said.
He said the margin between the two candidates was less than the cancelled votes, hence, the need for a re-run.
But Gari, a retired Deputy Comptroller of Customs said there was no need to declare the elections inconclusive, adding that the APC candidate won fair and square.
He said, “Our candidate is leading with 45,278. In some states, candidates were declared winners when the margin was a fraction of that. There is no need for a supplementary election.
“INEC cancelled elections in some polling units because of over-voting and violence.
“We are still very comfortably ahead. Even if it holds supplementary election, we are confident of increasing our margin of victory because all the areas where the polls were cancelled are our strongholds.”
