The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, situated in Jigawa State, has ruled the outcome of the House of Representatives election for the Birnin Kudu/Buji Federal constituency as inconclusive.
In the initial declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Adamu Yakubu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) emerged as the winner with 39,998 votes.
Yakubu had defeated the APC candidate, Magaji Da’u, who secured 36,735 votes. However, Da’u challenged the election’s outcome at the tribunal.
The election petition tribunal however determined that the election should have been initially declared inconclusive since the number of canceled votes exceeded the margin of victory.
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The tribunal’s chairperson, A. Okeke, ruled that INEC failed to adhere to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 when declaring the result.
“INEC did not follow regulations and guidelines, as well as the manual for Election officials for the 2023 election, in conducting the election, and the noncompliance substantially impacted the election’s outcome,” Okeke stated.
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Consequently, the judge ordered a re-run election to be held within 90 days, encompassing eight polling units in both Birnin Kudu and Buji local government areas.
Reports indicated that a total of 6,351 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were collected for the eight polling units, with Mr. Da’u, the APC candidate, trailing behind with 1,926 votes.