INEC Suspends Collation of Kano Governorship Election Results Over Security Concerns

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kano State has suspended the collation of results from the March 9 governorship election following reports of security challenges.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor Riskuwa Arab-Shehu, announced the suspension after results from 43 of the state’s 44 local government areas had been collated.

According to the commission, the result from Nasarawa Local Government Area was the only one yet to be announced when the exercise was suspended.

Arab-Shehu said the decision became necessary after INEC received reports of security problems surrounding the collation process in the local government area.

He explained that election results from Nasarawa were reportedly taken away from the collation centre, making it impossible for officials to immediately complete the statewide collation.

The REC said INEC would therefore rely on information contained in its primary and secondary databases to reconstruct the results from polling units and wards in the affected local government area.

According to him, the commission would carefully generate and verify the figures before accepting any result in accordance with the provisions of the electoral law.

Arab-Shehu also assured political parties that their agents would be invited to participate in the verification process to promote transparency and ensure confidence in the reconstructed results.

He maintained that the commission would take the necessary steps to establish the authentic figures from Nasarawa Local Government Area before resuming the final collation of the Kano governorship election results.