Dr. Dikko Umar Radda, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Katsina State gubernatorial candidate, has won the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s Returning Officer for the governorship election in the state, Professor Muazu Gusau, made the announcement shortly after all the commission’s collation officers in all the 34 Local Government Areas of the state had declared the results of the election in their respective councils.
According to Gusau, Radda polled 859,892 to emerge as the winner of the election.
The Peoples' Democratic Party candidate, Yakubu Lado Ɗanmarke, polled 486,260, while Engr. Muhammad Nur Khalil of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, polled 8,263.
The Returning Officer declared: “I, Professor Muazu Abubakar Gusau, the Returning Officer for the governorship election held in Katsina State on Saturday, 18 March, 2023, hereby declare Umar Dikko Radda of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, winner of the election, and is hereby returned elected as the governor".
Other governorship candidates and their scores as announced by the Returning Officer included: Barau Tanimu of the Accord Party, 297; Dankali Garba of the Action Alliance, 276; Amin Ibrahim of the ADC, 925; Ahmed Murtala of the ADP, 2309; and Kado Kabir of the BP, 403.
The rest included: Abu Ibrahim of the LP, 560; Abdullahi I of the NRM, 896; Gafari Imran of the PRP, 4226; Zakari Babangida of the SDP, 1049; and Tukur Saude of the ZLP, 132.
Gusau also revealed that there were 3,516,719 registered voters for the election, putting the total number of accredited voters at 13,992,719.
He also put the total valid votes cast at 1,365,848; rejected votes, 20,589 and total votes cast at 1,386,427.
Gusau added that polls were cancelled in 88 polling units for reasons which included over-voting and violence.