A supplementary election has been ordered by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Kaduna state after it declared the 2023 governorship election inconclusive. The tribunal gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 90 days to conduct the re-run in 24 polling units in four local governments where 16,300 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots. The tribunal delivered its judgement via Zoom after it avoided the physical hall.
The tribunal’s decision was a split one, with two judges in favour and one against. The majority judgement was based on the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Isah Mohammed Ashiru, who challenged the victory of Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the Governor of Kaduna State. The PDP alleged that there were irregularities and electoral fraud in the election and that its candidate won the election based on the results from the polling units before they were cancelled by INEC .
The APC and its candidate, Uba Sani, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the tribunal’s verdict and vowed to appeal it at the Court of Appeal. They insisted that they won the election legitimately and that the tribunal’s ruling was based on technicalities and not on facts.
Uba Sani had been declared the winner of the governorship election by INEC with 730,002 votes, defeating Ashiru who polled 719,196 votes. The Labour Party (LP) candidate, Jonathan Asake came third with 58,285 votes while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate, Suleiman Hunkuyi scored 21,405 votes.
The supplementary election is expected to be a close contest between the APC and the PDP as both parties have strong support bases in Kaduna state. The outcome of the re-run may also have implications for the political future of both candidates and their parties in Kaduna state and beyond.
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