INEC Declares Osun State Governorship Election Inconclusive

Indefuture blog

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has formally declared the Osun State governorship election inconclusive.

This is coming shortly after the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke had wielded 254, 698 votes to lead the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gboyega Oyetola, who likewise commanded 254,345 votes on Saturday 22nd of September, 2018.

This was as a result of some irregularities which ruin the election at certain polling units in Ife North, Ife South and Orolu local government areas. Some of the irregularities include, cases of card reader malfunctioning , ballot box snatching , among others which led to the cancellation of about 3, 498 recorded votes in the affected polling units.

Although the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Adeleke appears to have controlled more votes compared to the candidates of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr Oyetola, the margin is not enough for him to be declared the winner, says INEC.

The Returning Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof Joseph Fuwape said, "since the margin between the two leading candidates was lower than the registered cancelled votes, the election had to be declared inconclusive."

In his statement, “As a Returning Officer , it is not possible to declare any party as the clear winner of this election on the first ballot. I, Prof. Joseph Fuwape declare this election inconclusive .”

The Returning Officer, Prof Joseph Fuwape said the declaration was because the total number of cancelled votes was higher than the winning margin between the PDP and APC candidates.

You will recall that, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke scored 254,698, while the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola scored 254, 345. The total number of voided or cancelled votes is 3498.

Since the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Adeleke could not outrightly vanquish the candidate of the ruling APC as a result of the slim margin (353), the Osun Governorship election was declared inconclusive by INEC.

INEC further stated that, a rerun would take place at the affected polling units on Thursday , September 27 , 2018.