By Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the ruling All Progressives Congress has emerged winner of the governorship election in Kano with a margin of 8,982 votes.
In the result which was declared on Sunday night by the Kano Returning Officer of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Bello Shehu, Ganduje polled 1,033,695 votes while the PDP candidate. Abba Yusuf got 1,024,713 votes.
Professor Shehu therefore declared Ganduje winner of the governorship election and he was returned elected.
A total of 50,861 votes were declared as rejected in the whole exercise due to violence and over-voting.
However, there was tension at the collation center as agents of some parties, including the PDP, wanted INEC to address the irregularities that marred the election before declaring the result, a request INEC declined.
The Acting Chairman of the PDP, Rabiu Sulaiman Bichi insisted that there was no election in Gama ward where the electorate was disenfranchised.
Aliyu Sani Madakin Gini, a member of House of Representatives under the PDP called on the INEC to cancel the results from Nasarawa LGA in the supplementary election because it was marred by violence and intimidation of voters.
“INEC cannot be fair if it declares a doctored result when the Gama ward result was cancelled due to violence in the last election and now accepted amidst the same violence in the rerun election”, the Rep member said.
Also, the agent representing All Peoples Party, APP, Hon Fatima Abubakar Abdullahi, complained that no election took place at Kibiya LGA, one of the affected LGAs, but INEC received and collated the result.
She insisted that the rerun was not free and fair and should be cancelled.
In a reaction by the APC members, the Senator representing Kano North under the APC, Barau Jibrin, argued that the process of the collation should be respected by the PDP saying all complaints of irregularities should be addressed at the polling units and wards not at the state collation center where final submitted results are collated.
He added that “whosoever is not satisfied with the result should seek redress at the Election Tribunal.”
Details later…
