Rival officials declare different Zamfara North primary winners

Two competing officials announced different winners of the All Progressives Congress rerun primary for Zamfara North, leaving the party’s nominee for the 2027 Senate election unsettled. The contest was held on November 2 after court rulings ordered a fresh vote, but the declarations reported sharply different results. Auwal Abdullahi Aliyu, chairman of the APC primary election committee for the district, declared incumbent Senator Sahabi Yau Kaura the winner with 49,176 votes. In his announced tally, Tijjani Yahaya Kaura received 9,628 votes and Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi received 2,602. Returning officer Sani Abdullahi announced a different result, declaring Tijjani Yahaya Kaura the winner with 16,758 votes. He gave Sahabi Yau 1,465 votes and Shinkafi 1,447. The two declarations therefore differ both on the winner and on each candidate’s vote total. The tally attributed to Abdullahi also lists 19,492 valid votes and 19,608 accredited voters, while the three candidates’ totals add up to 19,670. That sum is 178 more than the stated valid-vote total and 62 more than the accredited-voter count. The official result sheet was not available to verify the published figures, according to...