INEC decleared Toto Federal Constituency Bye-election Inconclusive

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Sunday declared the just

concluded Nasarawa/Toto Federal Constituency bye-election inconclusive due to

cancellation of votes as a result of over voting.

The Constituency Returning Officer of the election, Wilfred Uji of

Federal University,

Lafia, Nasarawa State, made this known while the announcing the outcome of the

poll in Nasarawa, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state.

Mr. Uji cited Section 53 of the Electoral Act which gives the

commission the power

to cancel elections in polling units where there is over voting.

"For Nasarawa/Toto federal constituency, we have a total number of 202,338

registered voters for the election out of which 76,475 were accredited

and the total

vote cast was 75,826 and we have 74,848 valid votes and the rejected votes stand

at 978.

"The cancelled votes taken from the vote cast stand at 39,150 and the four

political parties that participated at the bye-election scored the

following votes,

APC scored 46,559; PDP scored 17,068; APGA 11,181 and Labour party (LP) got

40 votes.

"The marginal difference between the APC and PDP is 29,491, and the cancelled

votes is 39,150, so the cancelled votes exceeded the marginal difference between

APC and PDP as a result of over voting in some polling units of the

constituency.

"Based on the relevant laws guiding the commission, we hereby order

for a rerun in

the affected polling units on Wednesday, June 1 in order to get a

winner and such

decision has been taken in the interest of peace," he said.

Also speaking, the Supervising Resident Electoral Commissioner for the election,

Habu Zarma, urged the stakeholders of the political parties to

cooperate with the

commission in order to have a peaceful rerun.

"The rerun will just serve as a second chance for the electorate to

choose a leader

of their choice and we hope that a winner will be declared during the rerun

election," he said.

While speaking with journalists, Mohammed Musa and Ayuba Wandai, the Sole

Administrators of Nasarawa and Toto local government areas of the state,

respectively, expressed optimism that APC will come victorious during the rerun

election.

They called on the supporters of the APC to remain peaceful, law abiding and

come out en masse to vote for the party during the rerun election.

Reacting on the rerun election, Adamu Abubakar, the APC Returning Agent for the

election, said that as a law abiding party, APC has agreed with the

decision of the

INEC in good faith.

"We are already leading other political parties with a lot of gap and we are

optimistic that our great party, APC, will win the rerun election," he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that INEC fixed May 28 for the

bye-election for

the Nasarawa/Toto federal constituency following the death of Rep. Musa Baba-

Onwana.