Bala Mohammed, the current governor of Bauchi State and the PDP’s candidate for governor, has been proclaimed the victor of the state’s governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The PDP candidate received 525,280 votes, defeating the APC candidate, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (retd), who received 433,272 votes, according to the returning officer, Professor Abdulkarim Sabo Muhammed, who announced the findings at the Bauchi INEC office on Monday. With 60,496 ballots, Senator Halliru Jika of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) finished third.
“I Professor Abdulkarim Sabo Muhammad hereby certify that I am the returning officer of the Bauchi governorship election in Bauchi held on the 18th day of March 2023.
“That Bala Mohammed Abdukadir of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared winner and returned elected,” he said.
In the meantime, Hon. Abdulmumin Muhammad Kundak, an agent for the major opposition APC, rejected the results and refused to sign them, claiming that there had been violence and excessive voting in 77 polling places in the Bauchi local government alone.
“I will not sign the result because it was a cooked result and I have raised the alarm and made several complaints to the returning officer but all turned a deaf ear. You are a living witness to the constitutional issues and provisions of the Electoral Act,” Kundak said
Soon after presenting the results at the collation station at the INEC headquarters in Bauchi, Kundak made the accusations while questioning the returning officer for the Bauchi LGA, Muhammad Mukhtar Musa.