INEC To Conclude Guber Polls In 6 States On March 23

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC is to conduct supplementary governorship elections on March 23 in six states of the country where the polls were stalemated, the commission announced on Tuesday evening.

A statement issued by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye late on Tuesday said the decision was reached following a meeting of the commission and review of the reports on the governorship and state assembly polls.

22 governorship polls were declared and seven remained outstanding following the polls on March 9.

Okoye in the statement observed that the elections were declared inconclusive on account of the discontinuation of use of the Smart Card Readers midway into the elections or the failure to deploy them, over-voting and widespread disruption in many polling units. 

“In compliance with the Margin of Lead Principle derived from Sections 26 and 53 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and paragraph 41(e) and 43(b) of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of elections, the outcome of these elections could not be determined without conducting polls in the affected polling units. Hence the Commission’s decision to conduct supplementary elections in line with this principle. 

“Furthermore, the Commission has considered a Report submitted by the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Bauchi State on the disruption of the collation at the Tafawa Balewa LGA collation centre, which led to the cancellation of results for the entire local government. The Commission found that there are issues that need further investigation and has set up a team led by a National Commissioner to resolve them,” he added.

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