APC’s Inuwa Yahya declared winner of Gombe governorship election
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress Alhaji Mohammad Inuwa Yahya has been declared the winner of Gombe state gubernatorial election. Yahya polled a total of 364,179 votes to beat the People’s Democratic Party’s Usman Bayero Nafada, who scored 222, 868 votes in the Saturday’s poll. According to the state returning officer and vice chancellor Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi Professor Saminu Ibrahim, 627,451 persons were accredited to vote in the election while the total votes cast in the Saturday’s poll was 623, 230. Professor Ibrahim said that the total valid votes were 608, 846 while 143, 84 votes were rejected. APC won the poll with a difference of 141, 311 votes.
Udom Emmanuel re-elected, crushes APC challenger
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Gov. Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Akwa Ibom. The Returning Officer, Prof. Faraday Orumwense, Vice Chancellor, University of Benin, who announced the result in Uyo on Monday, said that Gov. Emmanuel won in all the 31 local government areas of the state.
Orumwense said Emmanuel was re-elected governor having polled 519,712 votes. His main rival, Mr Nsima Ekere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 171,978 votes. Mr Emmanuel Nwankpa of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Mr Ekene Uzodinma of the United Peoples Party (UPP) polled 2,547 and 1,476 votes, respectively.
Orumwense said that there were 2,119,727 registered voters in the state. He said that 720,064 voters were accredited, adding that 6 96,245 valid votes were recorded, while 15, 792 votes were declared void. He noted that the election was keenly contested, saying that 50 political parties contested for the governorship election in the state.
Bauchi governorship election declared inconclusive
There is no winner yet in the keenly contested governorship election in Bauchi state, between incumbent Mohammed Abubakar and the PDP challenger, Bala Mohammed, a former minister. With all the results from the councils tallied, Governor Abubakar polled 465,453 votes, while Bala Mohammed got 469,512, a margin of 4059 votes. But the returning officer, Professor Mohammed Kyari from Federal University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa declared the election inconclusive.
He explained the reasons for the action. “First, that the margin of lead between the PDP and APC Candidates is 4, 059 votes. Secondly, the number of cancelled votes even without that of Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area which he had earlier cancelled was 45, 312.
“Thirdly, the total number of registered voters in the affected areas are 139, 240. Therefore, based on Section 26 Part 53 of the Electoral Act, I hereby declare this result inconclusive.” He, therefore, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state to immediately conduct a re-run in the affected areas within 21 days. The results of 19 out of 20 LGAs were announced by the various Collation Officers, with Tafawa Balewa cancelled.
INEC confirms Dapo Abiodun Ogun governor-elect
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun state, Dapo Abiodun has been confirmed by the Independent National Electoral Commission as winner of the 9 March election and also declared the governor elect. In the official result announced on Sunday night, Abiodun polled 241, 670 votes, the highest number of votes in the election to defeat Adekunle Akinlade, governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) who scored 222,153.
Abiodun won with a margin of 19,517 votes. The APC candidate won in 11 of the 20 local government areas (LGAs), APM had six LGAs, Action Democratic Congress (2) while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won just one LGA. Prof. Idowu Olayinka, the vice chancellor of University of Ibadan and also the INEC Returning Officer for Ogun State announced the results at 1am Monday, with ADC coming third in the election with 110,422. PDP candidate, Buruji Kashamu got 70,290 votes.
Bello re-elected in Niger State
Niger governor Abubakar Bello, who contested for a second term on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, has won the bid, according to the results of the Saturday polls announced by the Returning Officer, Prof. Angela Miri. Miri, Vice Chancellor of Federal University Lokoja, who announced the result on Sunday in Minna, said that Bello won the polls in all of the 25 local governments of the state. He scored 526,412 votes, while Umar Nasko of PDP polled 298,065 votes.
Niger state has 2,387,734 voters registered. But 925,518 voters were accredited for the governorship election, with total valid votes put at 900,817. The number of votes cast was 920,480, while 19,609 votes were rejected. Prof.Samuel Egwu ,Niger Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC) commended stakeholders for the peaceful conduct of the election. He lauded the Niger State Police Command and other security agencies for providing the ambience to enable a peaceful and transparent poll.
PDP’s Fintiri set to topple APC’s Gov. Bindow in Adamawa
The candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Umaru Fintiri, is leading incumbent Gov. Muhammadu Bindow of Adamawa as INEC announced the results of 20 out of 21 local government areas in the state. Fintiri is leading with 361,541 votes, while Bindow, elected on the All Progressives Congress platform in 2015 trails with 328,562 votes.
The results announced at the Governorship Collation Centre in Yola in the presence of the Returning Officer, Prof. Andrew Haruna, indicated that Fintiri won in 12 Local Government Areas of Mayo-Belwa, Yola North, Song, Michika, Numan, Guyuk, Jada, Lamurde, Demsa, Gombi, Madagali and Hong. Bindow clinched eight local government areas comprising Shelleng, Yola South, Girei, Mubi North, Mubi South, Maiha, Fufore, Ganye and Maiha Local Government Areas
The results from the only remaining Toungo local government area is being awaited as the collation adjourned to 11.30 pm. Meanwhile, the Mrs Rifkatu Maxwell, the spokesperson of Adamawa INEC said the result of 25 House of Assembly seats is still being compiled. Unconfirmed reports indicated that APC and PDP won the assembly seats in local councils won by each party in the governorship election.
Masari wins re-election in Katsina, PDP rejects result
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Gov. Aminu Masari as winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Katsina State. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party swiftly rejected the result and said it would seek remedy in the court.
The PDP state Chairman, Alhaji Salisu Majigiri, alleged that the results declared by the INEC did not tally with the low turnout of voters and the results in custody of their agents. The Returning Officer for the governorship election, Prof Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, Vice Chancellor, Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, said Masari polled 1,178,864 votes to defeat PDP’s Sen. Yakubu Lado, who scored 488,621 votes.
The state has a total of 3.2 million registered voters. According to Zuru, the number of accredited voters was 1,173,780, while the votes cast were 1,720,638, with 37,593 votes rejected. “The APC candidate, Aminu Masari, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored highest number of votes is hereby declared winner and returned elected,” Zuru declared. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Masari defeated the Yakubu Lado and 16 other candidates in all the 34 Local Government Areas of the state.
APC’s Abdullahi Sule governor-elect in Nasarawa
Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress has been declared governor-elect in Nasarawa State.
The returning officer said Sule polled 327,229 votes while his main opponent, David Ombugadu polled 184,281 votes.
“Accept defeat in good faith” – INEC advises politicians
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi state, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi, has advised politicians to accept defeat in good faith in the Saturday Governorship and State Assembly elections. The REC gave the advice in his opening remarks at the collation and declaration of Governorship election in Bauchi on Sunday. He reminded supporters and the political gladiators that “it is only God that gives power to whom He wishes.
“So in this spirit, I appeal to the eventual winner and loser to be magnanimous in victory and gallant in defeat. This is important because we believe power belongs to God and whatever reaction that will follow the announcement should be within the confines of law,’’ he said.
He said, “The journey began four years back and today we are witnessing a historic event where the winner God has destined will be officially announced, having fulfilled all requirements of the land.
The Returning Officer of the Bauchi State Governorship election, Prof. Mohammed kyari, appealed to the supporters to be calm. “We are going to conduct the collation and declaration of the governorship results in a serene environment and make everybody comfortable during the session.” He said the results would be announced as soon as came in from the local government areas of the state.
