Joseph Bakare
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has affirmed that supplementary elections have helped improved quality of elections in the country.
The INEC National Commissioner in charge of Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states, Mr Abubakar Nahuche, disclosed this while presenting certificates of return to Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina state and 34 elected members of the state House of Assembly in Kastina on Friday.
“The 2019 general election has generated a lot of interests and debate particularly on declaring election inconclusive requiring supplementary election.
“It shows improvement in the quality of election in recent times.
“It has reduced the margin between the winner and the runner up during the election,”he said.
He cited examples of Adamawa and Sokoto states where elections were declared inconclusive.
“In Adamawa, the margin between the winner and the runner up is over 32,000 votes and the cancelled votes were about 40,900.
“The runner up need over 60 per cent of the cancelled votes to win the election.
“While in Sokoto state, the margin was over 3,400 votes while the cancelled votes were over 75,000, so, the election can go both ways, both of them can win the election as we have seen,” he said.
He urged the candidates to imbibe the culture of sportsmanship and eschew politics of bitterness.
Nahuche commended Nigerians for their numerous support to the commission and urged them to keep it up.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC) in the state, Alhaji Jibril Zarewa, said the commission would strive hard to consolidate its successes towards a better operation.
“We will look at process and procedures with a view to reviewing them to further strengthen the areas of strength and address shortcomings,” he said.
He commended political parties for conducting their campaigns in peaceful manner.
Zarewa commended traditional and religious leaders for their exemplary roles in advocacy, mobilisation and participation in electoral processes.