Court gives Inec to go-ahead to proceed with the declaration of Bauchi's election results

BAUCHI State looks set to announce the winner of its gubernatorial elections later this week after a federal high court in Abuja gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) the go-ahead to proceed with the process.

Along with 28 other states in Nigeria, Bauchi had gone to the polls on March 9 to elect a governor in what was a two-horse race between incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Federal Capital Territory minister Bala Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). However, collation of results was stopped following discrepancies about the elections in Tafawa Belewa Local Government Area.

Initially, Inec had planned to hold supplementary elections on March 15 but later decided that this would no longer be necessary and would count the votes from Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area and add to the total from across the state. Governor Abubakar and the APC had then approached the court asking for a declaration that Inec cannot review what a collation officer had cancelled.

Having got an injunction preventing Inec from proceeding with the announcement of the election results, the matter was ruled upon today as the substantive suit was heard. Governor Abubakar and the APC had asked the court to declare that Inec, having made a pronouncement for a supplementary election, could not go back on it.

Ruling on the matter today Justice Inyang Ekwo said that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter. According to the judge, having declined jurisdiction, the order of status quo made on March 19 is hereby vacated.

Justice Ekwo said: “There is no legal impediment preventing Inec from going ahead with the decision contained in its press release of March 15. Accordingly, I make an order dismissing this suit.”

Inec had announced that supplementary elections would be held in Bauchi, however, in a press release issued on March 15, the commission said that it would no longer go ahead with the supplementary election. In court today, Inec had argued that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the matter and that it was a matter for the Election Petition Tribunal.

With the court ruling, Inec said it will now continue with the collation and announcement of results of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area. In the original elections held on March 9, Mr Mohammed of the PDP polled 469,512 votes, while Governor Abubakar of the APC secured 465,453 votes.

In the supplementary elections held on Saturday, Mr Mohammed secured 6,376 votes while Governor Abubakar polled 5,117 votes. This gives Mr Mohammed a total of 475,888 votes to Governor Abubakar's 470,570 votes, representing a lead of 5,318.

Once the results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area are added to the total, Inec will be in a position to announce the winner. At the moment, Mr Mohammed is in pole position to win the contest as it is believed he got a majority of the votes in the disputed local government area.