INEC declares Kogi poll inconclusive

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the governorship election of Kogi state inconclusive.

Emmanuel Kucha, the returning officer of the election, announced the development at the INEC headquarters in the state, saying it was in compliance with the provision of the electoral act.

He explained that the margin between the two leading candidates is less than the number of the cancelled votes.

Kucha gave the number of cancelled votes as 49,953 and the margin between Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Idris Wada, the incumbent governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), as 41,353.

He said the cancellations were due to snatching of ballot boxes and some acts of disorderliness in some polling units across 18 local government areas.

Kucha, who is the vice-chancellor of Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue, said INEC was expected to conduct the supplementary election in the affected units within one week in line with the electoral act.

He announced that only 511, 648 out of 1, 379,971 registered voters in the state were accredited to vote in the election.

Audu secured 240,867 votes, while Idris polled 199,514 votes.

The electoral body is yet to announce the date for the supplementary election.

This is not only the first election that the newly-inaugurated INEC will hold but the first to be conducted in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.