nd September 2018 as inconclusive despite being a winner with majority votes. Amidst the accusations of deliberate attempts by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to tamper with the outcome of the election in order to favour the interest of a party, this writer seeks to analyse the announcement by INEC vis-à-vis the provisions of the law. The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) guides INEC which is the body saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections in Nigeria. Section 153 of the Act which INEC has relied upon to declare the Osun elections inconclusive provides thus: The Commission may, subject to the provisions of this Act, issue regulations, guidelines, or manuals for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Act and for its administration thereof It is in line with this provision that INEC in 2015 made a guideline for the conduct of the 2015 general elections (and in the opinion of this writer, subsequent elections including the Osun gubernatorial election). Paragraph 44 (n) of the Guidelines provides, The State Collation/Returning Officer for the Governorship election shall, where the margin of win between the two leading candidates is not in excess of the total number of registered voters of the polling unit(s) where elections was cancelled or not held, decline to make a return until another poll has taken place in the affected polling unit(s)… (emphasis are that of the writer) In effect, where the margin between two leading candidates (which are in this case, PDP and APC) is not more than the total number of registered voters of polling units where elections was cancelled, a rerun election must be held. Going by the result declared by INEC, the PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke won a majority vote of 254,698 while the APC candidate, Gboyega Oyetola polled a total of 254,345 votes to come second. The difference between the leading candidates being 354 votes. According to the Daily Trust, elections were cancelled in a total of seven polling units across four local government areas; one polling unit each in Ife and Osogbo, two in Ife South and three in Orolu Local Government Area. The total number of registered voters in the affected polling units amounts to 3,498. This figure being above the margin between the two leading candidates clearly calls for a rerun election to be conducted in the affected polling units in accordance with Paragraph 44 (n) of the INEC Election Guidelines 2015 which enjoys the support of Section 153 of the Electoral Act. Declaration of inconclusive elections are not new to the Nigerian political system as a scenario which is on all fours with that of Osun State played out in the gubernatorial election of November 2015 conducted in Kogi State. In that election, the Late Abubakar Audu of the APC scored 240,867 votes while Idris Wada of the PDP had 197, 514 votes. The same election was declared inconclusive as the total number of registered voters in 91 polling units, in 18 Local Government Areas, where election was cancelled was 49,953 while the difference between the two leading candidates was only 41,353. Although the APC went on to win the rerun election, the candidate of the party died before the election and this threw up an entirely new debate as to who would substitute the late candidate. As Nigerians and the international community look forward to a smooth rerun election come 27th September 2018, it is hoped that Paragraph 44 (n) of the Election Guidelines 2015 is incorporated into subsequent amendments of the Electoral Act as its provisions continue to become a reality in Nigerian politics in order to assuage the fears of foul play in future elections. God bless Nigeria. Mohammed Adediji can be reached on LinkedIn]]>

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