A coalition of the Independent National Electoral Commission-accredited observer groups has asked the electoral body to review the 18 March gubernatorial election in Kano State.
INEC declared the candidate of New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP), Malam Abba Yusuf, winner of the guber election in Kano State on 20 March.
The Chief Returning Officer for the election, Professor Ahmed Doko Ibrahim who declared the result at exactly 6:47 am local time at the INEC headquarters in Kano state said Abba polled 1,019,602 million votes to defeat his closest rival, the governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna who scored 890,705 votes.
Friday Maduka, leader of the coalition, made the call at a news conference at the NUJ Press Centre Kano on Thursday.
Maduka said as an observer of the election, the coalition found the poll to have been marred by too many irregularities and violations of the Electoral Laws and INEC guidelines for the election.
He listed the electoral malpractices, including ballot box snatching, destruction of ballot papers, voter intimidation, suppression, violence, and vote buying.
“INEC should, as a matter of national urgency, review the outcome of the election, have a retraction of its position and look in the direction of conducting a supplementary election,” Maduka said.
He said the supplementary poll should be held in the affected areas, which had over 270,000 cancelled votes in line with the relevant electoral laws, adding that the electoral umpire should review the exercise “for peace and progress of the state in particular and Nigeria in general.”
According to the coalition, INEC acted against its rules by declaring Mr Yusuf the winner while the result collation was ongoing.
“Also, the margin of lead, which is about 130,000 votes, is less than the total number of cancelled votes of over 270,000. Section 65 of the Electoral Act is very clear on cases like this. Therefore, the hasty declaration of a winner in the Kano state governorship election 2023 cannot be said to be fair to all the political parties involved,” the group said.
It then condemned the post-election violence that befell the State “after the hasty declaration of a winner by INEC, under the guise of victory celebration, resulting in loss of lives and property.”
“We urge the various security agencies in the state to thoroughly investigate the incident and apprehend the perpetrators to face the full wrath of the law,” the coalition added.
(NAN)