BBC Pidgin of Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Source: BBC

Why INEC neva declare govnorship results from four states

Di election don dey gradually come to conclusion Di election don dey gradually come to conclusion

Di Nigeria govnorship elections 2023 don dey gradually come to conclusion.

So far, out of di 28 states wey do elections for new govnors wey go run affairs of dia states for di next four years, di electoral commission don announce di winners for 24 states.

Di four states wey dia govnorship results still dey hang na, Adamawa, Enugu, Kebbi and Abia.

On Monday, Abia state electoral officer, Prof Nnenna, announce di suspension of di election results on till Tuesday.

According to Nnenna, dem get di order from Inec national headquarters to suspend collation of results from Obingwa local goment area of di state afta jaguda pipo invade dia office dia.

Inec national headquarters order to suspend collation of results also affect Enugu state, wia di commission say dem go review di results from two local goments.

Inside statement wey di Nigeria election body bin release say, dem get reports from Enugu wey bin call for di review of results from two local goment areas, Nsukka and Nkanu East.

Inec say dem go “review immediately dem immediately before di process complete.”

Di election umpire also declare Adamawa and Kebbi state govnorship elections inconclusive.

For Adamawa, Inec declare di election inconclusive sake of di margins of di vote.

For di results wey dem announce, di All Progressives Congress candidate for di state, Senator Aishatu Dahiru alias Binani get 390, 275 votes, while di current govnor, Ahmadu Fintiri, of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, get 421,524 votes.

For Kebbi state di election bin dey inconclusive sake of overvoting.

Kebbi state election returning officer, Yusuf Sa’idu, wey make di announcement say dem bin get cancellations of results for different polling units across Registration Areas (RAs) for 20 out of 21 local goment areas.

Sa’idu say di number of votes wey dem get pass di number of PVCs wey pipo collect for di polling units wey dey affected.

Wetin fit make election inconclusive?

Inconclusive election according to Inec, na election wey bin no get any winner afta di first ballot exercise.

According to di Nigeria electoral act, e get some kain tins wey fit happun to make elections for di kontri inconclusive.

For instance when violence occur or natural disaster happun, Inec no go fit do elections.

Also if di total number of registered voters for di place wey dey affected dey more dan di “margin of lead” for areas wey elections dey hold, den di election bodi no go make any declaration of results until dem go back to do di election.

Di whole of Section 51 of di Electoral Act 2022 explain how tins fit occur and wetin Inec suppose do.

“51—(1) No voter suppose vote for more dan one candidate or record more dan one vote in favour of any candidate for any one election.

“(2) Wia di number of votes wey dem cast for election for any polling unit pass di number of accredited voters for dat polling unit, di Presiding officer go cancel di result of di election for dat polling unit.

“(3) Wia di result of election dey cancelled according to subsection (2), no return for di election go occur until anoda election happun for di affected polling unit.

(4) Notwithstanding di provisions of subsections (2) and (3) di Commission fit, if e dey satisfied say di result of di election no go dey seriously affected by voting for di area wia dem cancel di election, direct make dem do return of di election.”