INEC Declares Kano Governorship Election Inconclusive, See Why

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria’s electoral umpire, has declared Kano state governorship election held on Saturday, March 9, as inconclusive.

Naija News reports that the announcement was made Monday evening, March 11 by the state’s Returning Officer, Bello Shehu, a professor.

The state’s Returning Officer said the Commission declared the election inconclusive because the number of cancelled votes is higher than the difference in votes scored between the two leading candidates: Abba Yusuf of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria’s main opposition party and incumbent governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party.

Announcing the results, Shehu said while the PDP candidate polled 1,014,474 votes, Mr Ganduje of the APC scored 987,819 votes leaving a difference of 26,655 votes.

The state’s Returning Officer also said the total number of votes cancelled across 22 local government areas including Gama ward of Nasarawa local government is 141,694 votes.

Shehu said based on the provisions of the law, he has to declare the election inconclusive because the number of cancelled votes is much higher than the difference between the two major candidates.

Meanwhile, Naija News reports that the development means Kano has joined a growing list of states where elections have been declared inconclusive. The list includes Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Bauchi and Sokoto states.