Following the inconclusive election of the governorship election in Kano state, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has vowed to conduct free, fair and credible supplementary election in the state on March 23.
According to a statement by INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Prof. Riskuwa Shehu Arabu on Wednesday, the supplementary elections would determine the winner of Kano state governorship election.
He explained cases of violence and over voting invoked the decision to cancel the ballots cast in some polling units.
“The Commission wishes to reiterate its commitment to the conduct of free, fair and credible election in the State. It also wishes to inform the general public that the Supplementary Election would be conducted on Saturday 23rd March, 2019,” Riskuwa stated.
He explained the cancellation of results in some units located within some local Government Areas was due to violence and over voting, which lead to cancellations of results in 210 Polling Units which constitutes 88 Registration Areas, adding that the affected Polling Units has a total number of 128, 572 registered voters.
The Kano REC said the contenders with the highest votes are the candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) with 987, 819, while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had 1, 014, 474 votes.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party PDP is currently on a marginal lead with 26, 655 while 128, 572 votes were cancelled.
According to him: “Based on the above and looking at the marginal lead of 26, 655 between the two candidates with highest votes and the number of total votes cancelled which stands at 128, 572, a winner cannot be declared at this stage until a supplementary election is conducted in the affected polling units.”
