Be that as it may, regards must first be tilted towards our electoral laws governing the entire exercise as made by the Federal Legislature. If that is the case, we ought not to criticize or commend INEC for such a decision until after we become conversant with the provisions of the Electoral Act and of course other relevant statutes.
I will not quote any section(s) in this write up, because it is not meant to be elaborative, but I will paraphrase some relevant portions connected herewith.
An election is declared Inconclusive statutorily based on different factors, among which is the shortage of the TOTAL DIFFERENCE (that is the margin between the leading candidate and the one behind) compared to the TOTAL NUMBER OF THE CANCELLED VOTES. If such a thing happens, the returning officer has no choice than to declare the election Inconclusive.
Having said this, many of us think and believe that, INEC only declares the Inconclusiveness of an election where the opposition party is leading, take Bauchi (my state) and Kano as examples. But truth be told, this is not the case.
If that is the case, a question may pop up on the mind of the reader, that, then why always Inconclusive in those States? The answer of which I provide as follows.
Many of the States seemingly to be taken over by the opposition parties, face a serious challenge of what we called a TIGHT RACE may be because of the incumbency factor. The margin is always not that of a landslide one, and as such it must be declared Inconclusive if the number of the cancelled votes supercedes the margin between the two parties.
But in a situation whereby the cancelled votes are in no way near the margin, the leading candidate can be comfortably returned elected. This is based on the assurance that even if the totality of the cancelled votes are casted in favour of the No.2 party, that’s the party behind the one that is leading, the No.2 party will still not win. But anything otherwise, the election must be declared Inconclusive because those cancelled votes will now be the ones to decide the fate of each candidate alongside their respective parties. Thanks.
Muhammad Mubarak Muhammad wrote in from the Faculty of Law.
ABU Zaria.
