Desmond Mgboh, Kano

The wind of inconclusive elections has also hit Kano State forcing the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Returning Officer for last Saturday’s governorship election, Professor Bello Shehu, to declare same in the state.

Professor Shehu while announcing the results at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday night, disclosed that while the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) scored 1, 014,474 votes, the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 987,819 votes.

While the total number of vote casts in the election stood at 2,184,889, the total number of rejected votes was 49,761, he stated.

He added that a total of 100,673 votes were cancelled in 172 polling units in 87 Registration Areas of the state as a result of various challenges.

He maintained that with the addition of the cancelled votes from Gama ward in Nassarawa Local Government Area, the total number of cancelled votes would stand at 141,694 votes.

According to him, the margin of difference between the two parties stood at 26,655 votes while adding that despite efforts made at reducing the number of cancelled votes, the number was still on the high side.

Professor Bello explained that, “where the margin of lead between the two candidates is not in excess of the total of registered voters of the polling units where election was cancelled or not held in line with Section 26 and 53 of the Electoral Act, the Returning Officer should decline to make a return until polls have taken place in the affected polling units and the results included for the declaration of return.”

Speaking on behalf of the People’s Democratic Party, Alhaji Aliyu, Sani Madaki, expressed regrets at the decision of INEC to cancel the results of Gawa ward in Nassarawa Local government area even where the culprits are well known.

He said that by so doing, INEC would be encouraging the political class to use thugs to disrupt the process of election once the result are not in their favour.

It would be recalled that the PDP had waged a spirited battle to ensure that the results of the controversial Gawa ward were included in the collated results but was not successful.