…Dates for Supplementary Elections in Adamawa, Kebbi Yet to be Announced

…INEC Debunks Attack on Chairman’s Property

With Adamawa and Kebbi states’ Governorship Elections still inconclusive, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will on Wednesday present Certificates of Return to 26 Governors – Elect at the various state offices of the commission..

Breakdown of the 26 states shows that the All Progressives Congress, APC won in 16 states, PDP in nine, LP in one. The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) won in Kano state.

The Commission on Saturday fixed Wednesday 29th, Thursday 30th and Friday 31st March 2023 for the issuance of certificates of return to Governors and Deputy Governors-elect as well as State Assembly members-elect.

Mr. Festus Okoye Esq. National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee said: “By the provisions of Section 72(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, the Commission is mandated to issue a certificate of return within 14 days to every candidate who has been returned elected under the law”.

“Pursuant to the above provision, the Commission has fixed Wednesday 29th, Thursday 30th and Friday 31st March 2023 for the issuance of certificates of return to Governors and Deputy Governors-elect as well as State Assembly members-elect. The presentation will take place in INEC offices in each State of the Federation”.

“Specific dates for the issuance of the certificates shall be communicated to those elected by the Resident Electoral Commissioners and Administrative Secretaries of the various States”,the statement stressed.

The Governors -Elect are Mr. Alex Otti of the Labour Party(LP) for Abia state, Mr. Peter Mbah , Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Enugu State, Senator Uba Sani All Progressives Congress ( APC), Kaduna, Senator Bassey Otu ,APC(Cross River), Mohammed Bago APC (Niger), Umar Namadi APC (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu APC (Sokoto), Dr. Dikko Radda APC (Katsina),Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia APC (Benue), and Francis Nwifuru ,APC (Ebonyi).

Others are Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya APC (Gombe), Gov. Mai Mala Muni APC (Yobe), Gov. Abdullahi Sule APC (Nasarawa), Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu APC (Lagos), Gov. Dapo Abiodun APC (Ogun), Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq APC (Kwara), Gov. Babagana Zulum APC (Borno) , Senator Uba Sani APC (Kaduna), Mohammed Bago APC (Niger), Umar Namadi APC (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu APC (Sokoto), and Francis Nwifuru APC (Ebonyi).

Others include Gov Seyi Makinde PDP (Oyo) ,Gov. Bala Mohammed PDP (Bauchi) , Kefas Agbu PDP (Taraba), Caleb Mutfwang PDP (Plateau), Peter Mbah PDP (Enugu), Pastor Umo Eno PDP (Akwa Ibom), Siminialayi Fubara PDP (Rivers) Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori PDP (Delta)PDP’s Dauda Lawal , and Abba Kabir of the New Nigeria Peoples Party ( NNPP) won in Kano State.

Nobody would be presented a Certificate from Adamawa and Kebbi states as elections in the two states ware declared inconclusive.

The incumbent governor of Adamawa state ,Umaru Fintiri of the PDP scored 421,524 votes in the March 18 election while his closest rival, Senator Aisha Binani of the APC secured 390,275. But the elections were canceled in several units totaling about 37,000 votes. And since the marging of lead was only 31,000, the commission resolved to hold supplementary elections in the affected units.

INEC, however, announced that the cancelled votes at the election were more than the margin of win between Gov. Fintiri and Senator Binani.

The election in Kebbi state was keenly contested by the two giant political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the candidate of the All Progressives Congress leading in more local governments as at the time the outcome was declared inconclusive.

The collation and returning officer of the election, Yusuf Sa’idu, a professor at the Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, said there were cancellations of results in different polling units across Registration Areas (RAs) in 20 of the 21 local government areas of Kebbi State.

Mr Sa’idu said: “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, APC and PDP, polled 388,258 and 342,980 votes respectively. When we looked at the difference, it stands at 45,278.”

He noted that they had no option other than to refer to sections 51(2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022 for guidance.

INEC, however, announced that the cancelled votes at the election were more than the margin of win between Gov. Fintiri and Senator Binani.

INEC to Hold Supplementary Elections

On Saturday, Mr.Okoye Esq., while playing host to leaders of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS) , promised that the Commission would conduct credible supplementary election that would be pride of the international community and Nigerians.

INEC Debunks Attack on Chairman’s Property

Meanwhile, the Commission on Saturday denied that a property that was attacked in Bauchi State belongs to its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

According to a statement signed by Yakubu’s Chief Press Secretary, Rotimi Oyekanmi, his principal does not own any property and the rumours are part of a desperate smear campaign.

The statement read: “The property being purportedly attacked by some youths in a video clip circulating on the social media does not belong to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

“The INEC Chairman does not own the property in question in either Bauchi or anywhere else around the world.

“This narrative is indeed the latest in the series of desperate smear campaign efforts by mischief makers. The public should disregard it.”