All seven states where INEC declared governorship elections inconclusive

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the March 9 governorship and State House of Assembly elections inconclusive in at least seven states.

They are: Plateau, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Sokoto, Kano and Rivers states.

Returning Officers for the election in Plateau and Adamawa states, made the declaration on Monday in separate announcements at their respective collation centres.

In Jos, the Plateau State capital, Professor Richard Kimbir announced that the margin of a lead of 44,929 between the APC and the PDP candidates, is less than 49,377 cancelled votes.

Simon Lalong of APC polled a total of 583,255 votes, while Jerry Useni of PDP scored 538,326.

Professor Fatima Muktar had given the same reason for her decision in Adamawa and asked those troubled to report to the electoral body.

The election was declared inconclusive in both states, following a similar development in Sokoto State.

Also in Bauchi, Prof. Mohammed Kyari, the Returning Officer, said that apart from the cancellation of the result from entire Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area because of irregularities, the exercise in some other polling units also suffered the same fate.

Late on Monday, the same verdict was passed in Benue state, where a date for the rerun is expected announced within 21 days.

Just yesterday, INEC suspended all electoral processes in Rivers state until further notice.

In a statement, the commission explained that they took the decision, due to widespread violence in the state during the March 9 governorship and State Assembly polls.

The commission also claimed some of its staff were held hostage and materials including results sheets were destroyed.

The elections in Kano have also been adjudged inconclusive. The electoral body suspended the collation of the results, due to security challenges at the Nasarawa Local Government collation center.