The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Zamfara, Bello Matawalle winner of the state’s governorship election.
The electoral commission also declared all PDP candidates to the national assembly and state house of assembly as winners of their poll.
INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu who announced this during a press conference in Abuja on Saturday, said the opposition party won in all elective positions in the state.
Yakubu said the announcement followed the Supreme Court decision that sacked all candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the general election.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Court had ruled the party did not hold a valid primary election and subsequently voided its votes.
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The PDP Governorship candidate Matawalle polled 189,452 to emerge second in the governorship election.
“First, let me welcome all of you to this press conference. The reason for addressing you today is to provide an update on the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the candidates fielded by the APC in Zamfara State for the 2019 elections,” Prof Yakubu said.
“It is important to provide a background to the legal process that culminated in the Supreme Court decision on 24/5/19.
“You may all recall that the Commission issued the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2019 general elections on 9/1/18, over one year in advance.
“Among other activities, the conduct of party primaries was scheduled to take place between 18th August and 7th October 2018.
“Unfortunately, the APC did not conduct its primaries in Zamfara State within this stipulated time and the Commission duly informed the party that it would not be in a position to present candidates for elections in the State.
“Subsequently, various interested parties, including the APC itself, approached the court over the decision of the Commission.
“Just before the election, the subsisting court judgment at the time ordered the Commission to include the APC on the ballot for the Governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly elections, which the Commission complied with.
“However, since the elections were completed, a Court of Appeal judgment and now a Supreme Court judgment have determined that the APC did not conduct valid primaries for the elections in question.
“In its judgment delivered on 24/5/19, the Supreme Court, having determined that the APC did not conduct valid primaries, said that the votes cast for the party in all the elections in question were “wasted” and ordered the Commission to recognize the runners-up as the winners.
“This judgment affects the positions of governor and deputy governor, three senatorial, seven federal and twenty-four state assembly constituencies.
“Following the judgment of the Supreme Court, the Commission has met in two emergency sessions and taken briefings from our lawyers and staff on the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment.
“While the legislative elections (Senatorial, House of Representatives & State House of Assembly elections) are straight forward to deal with because they entail first-past-the-post or simple majority of votes, the governorship election is determined not just by majority votes but also spread in accordance with Section 179 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“This means that we had to first discount the votes cast for the APC at the elections and then carefully rework the spread by Local Government Areas based on the new valid votes.
” In compliance with the Supreme Court judgment, the Commission has now determined the winners of the elections in Zamfara State as follows: Governorship 1. GOVERNOR: BELLO MOHAMMED MATAWALLE, MALE, PDP 2. DEPUTY GOVERNOR: MAHDI ALIYU GUSAU, MALE, PDP.”
Update on the Press Briefing????????
1. First, let me welcome all of you to this Press Conference. The reason for addressing you today is to provide an update on the recent decision of the Supreme Court regarding the candidates fielded by the APC in Zamfara State for the 2019 elections— INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) May 25, 2019
