The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Lawal the governor-elect with a total of 377,726 votes, after he defeated Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 311,976.
He was announced as the winner in Gusau, the state capital in the early hours of Tuesday.
This came after some mild drama over the presentation of the results for Maradun Local Government Area (LGA), where allegations surfaced that the Collation Officer, Dr Ahmed Kainuwa, had been abudcted.
However, upon arrival at state collation centre at the INEC headquarters in Gusau, Kainuwa gave the reasons for his delayed appearance.
