The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) has declared the governorship election of Sokoto State inconclusive.
It was gathered that prior to the declaration, there was wild jubilation of victory in the camps of the two leading candidates, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, PDP, and jis former deputy, Ahmed Aliyu, APC, in the Sokoto state governorship poll has been put on hold.
The returning officer, Professor Fatima Batulu Muktar, Vice-Chancellor, Federal University Dutse, who declared the election inconclusive in the early hours of today (Monday), based her decision on the huge numbers of cancelled votes.
However, out of the total number of 1,033,081 accredited voters of the 1,887,767 registered voters, 987,942 was recorded as valid votes and 30,082 as rejected votes, from the 1,018024 total votes cast.
Governor Tambuwal, with a total vote of 489,558 was ahead of his arch-challenger, Aliyu Ahmed, who polled 486,145 votes, with a margin of 3,413 votes.
The margin according to Professor Fatima Mukhtar, in contrast with the numbers of votes cancelled, rendered the election inconclusive.
“Due to cancellation in 22 local government areas across 136 polling units with a total number of 75,403 cancelled votes.
“I cannot conclude this exercise and INEC will have to take a decision on this,” she stated.
