Tribunal declares Jigawa House of Reps election inconclusive

By Ali Rabe

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) had declared Adamu Yakubu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 39,998 votes as winner of the poll.

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

The election petition tribunal said the election ought to have been declared inconclusive at the first instance because the margin of canceled 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.

“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,” 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.

Reports indicated 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.