Tribunal declares Jigawa House of Representatives election inconclusive

The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Jigawa State, has declared the outcome of the House of Representatives election of the Birnin Kudu/Buji Federal constituency as inconclusive.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adamu Yakubu, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the winner of the poll. He scored 39,998 votes.

Mr Yakubu defeated the APC candidate Magaji Da’u, who scored 36,735. Mr Da’u challenged the outcome of the election at the tribunal.

On Saturday, the election petition tribunal said the election ought to have been declared inconclusive at the first instance because the margin of cancelled votes outnumbered the winning votes.

The chairperson of the tribunal, A. Okeke, ruled that INEC did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, in declaring the result.

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“INEC did not follow regulations and guidelines, and the manual for Election officials for the 2023 election in conducting the election, and the noncompliance substantially affected the outcome of the election,” Mrs Okeke said.

The judge then ordered a re-run election on eight polling units both in Birnin Kudu and Buji local government areas within 90 days.

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PREMIUM TIMES understood that the number of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) collected for the eight polling units was 6, 351 and the APC candidate, Mr Da’u was trailing behind with 1,926 votes.

Below are the details of polling units where the rerun election will be conducted

1, Registration Area- Birnin Kudu

Polling Unit – Gidan Mai

Number of registered voters – 619

Numbers of PVCs collected – 601

2. Registration Area, Birnin Kudu

Polling unit – Kiyako PS

Number of Registered voters – 1,140

Number of PVCs collected – 1,137

3. Registration Area – Sundimina

Polling unit – Gambara

Number of registered voters – 803

Number of PVCs collected – 799

4. Registration Area – Sundimina

Polling unit – Kwatai Gidan Jatau

Number of registered voters – 772

Number of PVCs collected – 772

5. Registration Area – Surko

Poling unit – Chagu – Chagu

Number of registered voters – 754

Number of PVCs collected – 754

6. Registration Area- Kawaya

Polling unit – Kawaya PS

Number of registered voters – 947

Number of PVCs collected – 930

7. Registration Area – Surko

Polling unit – Badingu

Number of registered voters – 814

Number of PVCs collected – 814

8. Registration Area Kiyako

Polling units – Kulumi

Number of registered voters – 549

Number of PVCs collected – 544