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From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has declared the by-election for Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency held on Saturday inconclusive.
The returning officer for the election, Professor Daniel Ayuba of The Federal University, Wukari, while declaring the election inconclusive, noted that the total number of collected PVCs in areas where election was cancelled, out -numbered the margin of victory.
Ayuba said that while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tafida Sadiq, scored a total of 17,214 votes, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Innocent Jabayang, who was the first runner up, scored 15,537, putting the difference between the duo at 1,677.
“In the current 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 can not 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. Consequently, the election is inconclusive and a rerun would be held in the respective areas only between the candidate with the highest votes and the first runner-up.”
Our correspondent reports that election was held on Saturday for Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency to fill the vacuum created by the death of Ismaila Maihanchi, who won the February 2023 general election for the constituency, but died before the swearing in of the 10th National Assembly.
