The Court of Appeal in Nigeria's capital Abuja has ruled that the governorship results for the northwestern state of Zamfara were "inconclusive."
Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Dauda Lawal of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the March 18, 2023 Zamfara governorship election.
According to INEC, Lawal got 377,726 votes to beat Bello Matawalle of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party. Matawalle polled 311,976 votes.
Aggrieved by the electoral outcome, Matawalle filed a petition, seeking a review of the voting process.
Unsuccessful at tribunal
At the elections tribunal, Matawalle lost the petition over "lack of evidence" to sustain the case.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, Matawalle went to the Court of Appeal, and challenged the lower court's decision.
On Thursday, Judge Sybil Nwaka of the Court of Appeal in Abuja declared that the Zamfara State governorship election was "inconclusive", and that INEC should hold fresh elections in three local governments – Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukkuyum – to determine the winner.
Nwaka said that it was improper for INEC to tally the final results without incorporating votes of certain polling stations, which had been affected due to unavoidable circumstances.
