The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared the March 18th, 2023, governorship election in Adamawa State inconclusive.

Announcing in the Collation Centre in Yola, capital of Adamawa, on Monday, 20th March, 2023, the INEC State collation officer, Prof Muhammadu Mele, of the University of Maiduguri, said the decision became necessary because a clear winner had not emerged after the collation of results from all the 21 Local Government Areas in the state.

The governorship contested in Adamawa state was a two-horse race between the incumbent governor candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ahmadu Fintiri, and Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed popularly known as Binani who is running on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

After the collation of results, Mele, the returning Officer said Ahmadu Fintiri of PDP polled a total of 421,524 while his closest challenger rAishatu Dahiru Ahmed of APC recorded a total of 390,275 votes.

However, despite the difference of 31,249 votes, the commission said a winner can’t be declared because the total number of Voters Cards collected in polling units where elections were canceled is 37,016.

This leaves room for a possible scenario where the candidate in the second position could potentially catch up and surpass the leading candidate.

Relying on the provision of the Electoral Act, which stipulated that if the number of PVCs collected in areas where elections didn’t hold or canceled is greater than the margin of lead, a supplementary election shall be held to determine a winner, Prof Mele the returning officer declared the election inconclusive.

INEC said a supplementary election will be conducted in the coming days to determine the winner.

Story: Ralia Adama

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