The trend of inconclusive election is becoming the order of the day in Nigeria democracy under the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as the electoral body failed to declare a winner in recent times.
The aim and desire of Nigerians when they march out in their numbers to vote for their preferred candidate is to see that the electoral process is free and fair, while the winner of the election is declared shortly after results are released.
However, some states in the country have experienced issues of an inconclusive election, thereby forcing INEC to extend the day for the election.
An inconclusive election is a situation where no winners are returned after the conclusion of the election exercise due to the cancellation of substantial election results in some polling units.
In most cases, such cancellations have been blamed on alleged violence and other sundry irregularities.
The issue of an inconclusive election has been a pattern tagged with the Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, whom some believe came on board to fit into the big shoes of the former chairman of the commission, Attahiru Jega.
The drama of an inconclusive election started on April 11, 2015, in gubernatorial elections in Abia, Imo and Taraba States where the election was greeted with alleged political manipulations and unprecedented violence.
The situation saw the electoral body add to the Nigerian political lexicon, ‘Supplementary Election’.
Following the emergence of Yakubu as the Chairman of INEC, the governorship election in Kogi and Bayelsa States and other elections conducted under Mahmood were declared inconclusive thereby sending fears into the spines of Nigerians over the capacity of INEC under the current leadership to conduct credible general elections across the country.
One of the questions asked by Nigerians was if the new leadership could not conclude an election in Kogi and Bayelsa State, what would be the fate of the general elections scheduled for 2019 and beyond?
Hardly did we know that the trend would continue in the governorship election in Osun when INEC explained that the number of registered voters in polling units where voting was cancelled, was higher than the difference between the two top candidates in the election.
The Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, polled the highest votes of 254,698, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gboyega Oyetola, came close with 254,345 votes.
However, the total number of registered voters in the five polling units where elections were cancelled was 3,498, higher than the 353 votes’ difference between Adeleke and Oyetola, hence the need to re-run the election.
When we thought we had outgrown inconclusive governorship election in the country, INEC declared the Governorship election in Anambra State inconclusive.
The Returning Officer for the Gubernatorial Election, Professor Florence Obi made the announcement at the INEC head office in Awka, Anambra capital stating that there was no election in the Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.
Naija News recalls that INEC had announced the postponement of the governorship election in the Ihiala Local Government Area over alleged irregularities discovered in most communities in the council area.
The development has seen this platform gather governorship elections in the country which has been declared inconclusive.
See the list of the affected states below:
Anambra 2013
Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State.
The Governorship election in Anambra State in 2013 was declared inconclusive with the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Willie Obiano, taking a huge lead with 174,710 votes, while his closest challenger, Tony Nwoye of the PDP, had polled a total of 94,956.
However, the number of votes cancelled in about 15 local government areas of the state stood at 113,113, which is higher than the number of votes Obiano was leading with.
The returning officer, James Epoke, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, as a result of the development declared the election inconclusive, to allow for a supplementary election in the places where voting was cancelled.
Obiano went on to win the election.
Bayelsa 2015
Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake dickson
INEC in 2015 declared the Bayelsa governorship election inconclusive with the candidate of PDP, Seriake Dickson leading the polls with 105,748 votes, and Timipre Sylva of the APC trailing with 72,594.
Dickson had won the election in six out of the seven local government areas in the state, and Sylva had won just one LGA, but the election was declared inconclusive following the cancellation of the entire votes in Southern Ijaw LGA as a result of massive electoral malpractice and violence.
The number of registered voters in Southern Ijaw LGA was put at 120,000, which was above the difference between Dickson and Sylva’s total votes.
Dickson went ahead to win the election.
Kogi 2015
Former Governor, Abubakar Audu
The Governorship candidate of the APC, Abubakar Audu, in the November 2015 Kogi governorship election, polled 240,867 votes, while the candidate of the PDP and incumbent Governor, Idris Wada, polled 199,514 votes.
However, the number of cancelled votes was 49,953, higher than Audu’s victory margin of 41,353 votes, hence the returning officer, Emmanuel Kucha, declared the election inconclusive.
Unfortunately, Audu, the leading candidate, died of a heart attack, that same evening, but Yahaya Bello, who had come second in the APC governorship primary, was tapped to complete the race on Audu’s behalf. Bello was later declared the winner.
Imo 2015
Former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha
The 2015 governorship election in Imo State was also declared inconclusive as a result of vote cancellations due to electoral malpractices.
At the time, Rochas Okorocha, who was running on the platform of APGA, was leading PDP’s Emeka Ihedioha with 385,671 votes to 306,142, a margin of 79,529 votes.
However, votes that had been cancelled in several polling units across the state totalled 144,715, leaving the returning officer, Ibidapo Obe, no choice but to declare the election inconclusive.
Osun 2018
The Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola
The Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, polled the highest votes of 254,698, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gboyega Oyetola, came close with 254,345 votes.
However, the total number of registered voters in the five polling units where elections were cancelled is 3,498, higher than the 353 votes’ difference between Adeleke and Oyetola, hence the need to re-run the election.
Oyetola was later declared the winner of the election.
Anambra 2021
The Independent National Electoral Commission on November 7 declared the governorship election in Anambra state inconclusive.
The Returning Officer for the Gubernatorial Election, Professor Florence Obi while speaking at the INEC head office in Awka, Anambra capital stating that there was no election in the Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.
The governorship election was postponed in Ihiala Local Government Area over alleged irregularities discovered in most communities in the council
