JUST IN: INEC DECLARES SOKOTO, BAUCHI GOV'SHIP ELECTIONS INCONCLUSIVE

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Joseph Omoniyi

INEC has declared the governorship elections in Sokoto and Bauchi States inconclusive.

The Returning Officer for Sokoto governorship poll, Professor Fatima Muktar, who made the announcement in the early minutes on Monday after collation of results from all local government areas of the state, explained that the election was inconclusive because the margin of the votes won was far lesser than the number of those cancelled.

According to the returning officer, a total of 1,881,767 voters registered in the state while 1,033,081 voters were accredited for the exercise.

The total number of votes cast was 1,018,024 out of which 987,942 were counted as valid votes.

After collating the results from all the local government areas, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 489,558 while the All Progressives Congress (APC) garnered 486,145 votes.

Meanwhile, in Bauchi, the Returning Officer for the elections in the state, Kyari Mohammed, declared the election inconclusive on Monday after it was observed that the margin between the two leading candidates was less than the number of cancelled votes.

According to the results collated by INEC for the keenly contested election showed that PDP’s Bala Mohammed, polled 469,512 votes, 4,059 votes more than the incumbent governor, Mohammed Abubakar, who secured 465,453 votes.

The Returning officer however noted that the difference is way less than the cancelled votes, thereby declaring the election inconclusive.