The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Usman Ododo, has been declared the winner of the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State.
Ododo polled a total votes of 446,237 to defeat his closest challenger, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who scored 259,052 votes, and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dino Melaye, who emerged third with 46,362 votes.
The Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Johnson Urame, made the formal declaration at about 10.25 p.m on Sunday night.
Persecondnews reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier declared the exercise inconclusive following electoral irregularities in some locations in the state, and fixed Saturday, November 18 for a fresh election.
Mr Mohammed Kudu Haruna, the National Commissioner and Member, the Information and Voter Education Committee (INEC), said in a statement on Sunday that the most critical incident of electoral malpractice occurred in nine out of 10 wards in Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area.
The electoral umpire, however, said the contemplated fresh elections were subject to the determination of the application of the Margin of Lead Principle by the Returning Officer for the governorship election exercise.
The earlier contemplated rerun was to allow 15,136 voters to cast their votes on a new date but with the margin of lead between Ododo and other contestants surpassing 15,136, the APC candidate was consequently declared winner and governor-elect of Kogi State.
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