The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced Saturday’s Jalingo, Yorro, and Zing Federal Constituency bye-election inconclusive.
Prof. Daniel Ayuba, the INEC Returning Officer for the election, stated this during the compilation of results in Jalingo on Sunday.
Ayuba stated that the judgment was based on provisions of the Electoral Act.
He stated that Tafida Sadiq, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), received 17,214 votes, while Mr Innocent Jabayang, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), received 15,537 votes, placing second.
Ayuba said that the 1,677 votes margin between the two candidates was not enough to declare Sadiq as the winner, hence the election was declared inconclusive.
“In the Electoral Act, there is a principle which stipulates that, if the margin of victory is less than the total number of collected PVCs in the areas where election is cancelled, the result cannot be declared and anyone declared returned.
“From the computation that we have done and the results available to us, the margin of victory is less than the total number of collected PVCs in the areas where election did not hold, or cancelled which is 14,759.
“Consequently, the election is inconclusive and a rerun would be held in the respective areas between the candidate with the highest votes and the first runner-up,” he said.
Thediscoverer.ng reports that the election followed the death of Ismaila Maihanchi who was elected in the February 2023 general election.
