INEC Fixes April 25th For Taraba Guber Run-off Election Between Mama Taraba And Darius Ishaku Of PDP

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Saturday, April 25 for the run-off election between Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The announcement comes as normalcy finally returned to Jalingo, Sunkani in Ardo Kola Local Government Area and Gembu, headquarters of Sardauna Local Government Area.

The Head of Department, Enlightenment and Publicity, Mr. Phebian Yame, who announced the date for the election during a briefing at the head office of the commission in Jalingo, said the date had been communicated to all the parties involved.

INEC had declared the gubernatorial election in the state inconclusive and ordered that based on the fact that cancelled votes in the election were more than the margin between the votes polled by Ishaku who came top in the election and Alhassan who was runner up.

The margin between Ishaku who polled 317,198 votes and Alhassan who polled 262,386 votes was 54,812, while the cancelled votes were 127,125.

In declaring the elections inconclusive, the returning officer, Prof. Kyari Mohammad, explained that the Constitution of Nigeria and the Electoral Act stipulate that when  the difference between the total cancelled votes in an election is higher than the margin between the first and the second person, elections should be declared inconclusive and a run-off should be conducted.
The run-off election would be conducted in all the 165 polling units of Donga Local Government Area as well as some polling units in Bali, Karim Lamido, Takum, Ussa, Wukari, Yorro and Zing.