.…Losers react
…Allegations of inducement, harassment, results manipulation will be reviewed — INEC
Our Correspondents
Results of outcomes of the Saturday gubernatorial polls declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday saw the declaration of the re-election of some State Governors including the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun, his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman.
The development came after tough contests in the concerned States, while final declarations by INEC for some States where the gubernatorial election was fiercely contested is awaited as at the time of filing this report.
Abiodun
INEC on Sunday declared Abiodun winner of the governorship election held on Saturday after polling 276,298 votes.
Abiodun defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the State, Oladipupo Adebutu, who polled 262,383 votes and 12 other candidates.
Abiodun defeated his closest rival Adebutu of PDP with 13,915 votes.
The returning officer of the governorship election in the State, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, declared Abiodun winner of the gubernatorial poll at the collation centre of the Commission in the State.
Adebowale said a total of 2,688,305 was the total registered voters while accredited voters were 666,406.
On the valid votes, Adebowale disclosed that a total of 645,133 votes were valid while 18,835 votes were rejected. He said that a total of 663968 votes were cast.
The APC won in Odeda, Egbado-North, Egbado-South, Ewekoro, Ijebu-North, Ijebu-Ode, Ipokia , Abeokuta-North. Ado-Odo/Ota, Ifo, Obafemi-Owode and Imeko-Afon local government areas of the state.
The PDP won in Abeokuta-South, Ogun Waterside, Ijebu-North/East, Ikenne, Ijebu-East, Remo-North, Odogbolu and Sagamu.
Other results are: Accord Party polled 724 votes; Action Alliance 382; African Action Congress 2,613; Action Democratic Congress 94,753; Action Democratic Party 2770; Allied People Movement 2066; Action Peoples Party Peoples Redemption Party 248 and Social Democratic Party 515.
Power Belongs to God — Abiodun thanks Ogun people, promises more dividends of democracy
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has commended the people of the state for renewing his mandate for another term of four years, just as he remarked that “Power belongs to God.”
Abiodun described his victory as heart-warming, and a “further proof that no man can play God or stop what God has ordained.”
The Governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin on Sunday, said though the election was keenly contested, his re-election came to him as a sign of good faith and a vote of confidence in his Administration by the people, assuring that his second term would usher in more goodies of democracy.
He said his victory is a further challenge to deliver on the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC), even as he promised that he would continue with the government of inclusiveness that has been the hallmark of his administration in the last four years.
While commending the people for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner during the polls, the Governor equally lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, the media and other relevant stakeholders for ensuring an atmosphere which enabled peaceful elections.
Abiodun also thanked the party leaders, stalwarts and members of the APC in the state, who worked assiduously for the party’s victory, assuring them that he would continue to keep the flag of the party flying, by continuing to deliver good governance across the state.
The Governor called on the opposition and well-meaning individuals in the state to join hands with him in order to move Ogun State to a higher pedestal.
He reiterated his administration’s commitment to principle of equity, fairness and justice, maintaining that his administration would not be characterised by favouritsm, nepotism and lopsidedness in situating developmental projects in all the four zones and three senatorial districts of the state.
According to Abiodun, in his second term, he “shall ensure the completion of several projects, aimed at improving the standard of living of the people and the economic prosperity of the state from the unparalleled success already recorded.”
He promised to be inclusive participatory, transparent, accountable, fair and not develop any part of the state at the expense of the other, the statement concluded
Meanwhile, Adebutu of the PDP has rejected the overall results of the 2023 governorship election in the State, calling for the cancellation of the results.
AbdulRazaq
Also in Kwara State, Governor AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman won re-election for a second term in office.
Abdulrazaq, who contested on the platform of the APC, was declared winner having polled 273,424 votes to beat his closest rival, Yaman Abdullahi of the PDP who garnered 155,490 votes in the election.
INEC announcing the result at its office in Ilorin on Sunday, via the returning officer for the State governorship election, Professor Isaac Itodo, who is the Vice-Chancellor, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, declared AbdulRazaq the winner of the election having scored majority votes in the election.
The Commission said AbdulRazaq won in all 16 Local Government Councils in the state.
He won in Ilorin South, Ilorin West, Ilorin East, Offa, Oyun, Ifelodun, Irepodun, Oke-Ero, Ekiti, Patigi, Edu, Kaiama and Baruten Local Government Areas.
Makinde
In Oyo State, INEC has officially declared Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde winner of the governorship election in the State for a second term.
Makinde polled a total of 563,617 votes while his closest rival, Sen. Teslim Folarin scored 251,230 of the APC, while Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord came a distant third polling 38,757.
Meanwhile, upon his reelection Makinde has promised to work with the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu when his government is finally inaugurated in May 29th.
Makinde who made the promise in an interview with TVC on Sunday, said, “I will work with the President-elect. We will continue to work towards ensuring that Nigeria is united. We will make sure Nigeria is on the path of inclusivity. We will work with the passion to create value in our country Nigeria.”
In Katsina State, INEC has declared Dr Dikko Umar Radda, candidate of the APC winner of the governorship poll.
Dikko who won 33 out of the 34 LGAs of the State, polled 859,892 votes to defeat his main contender, Sen. Yakubu Lado Danmarke, of the PDP who garnered 486,620 votes.
The INEC Chief Returning Officer for Katsina governorship poll, Prof. Ma’azu Abubakar Gusau who declared the result Sunday night, said the State has 3,816,719 registered voters of which 1,399,291 were accredited and 1,386,427 cast their votes.
However, out of the accredited voters, only 1,365,848 voters were declared valid, while 20,579 votes were rejected or declared invalid, Ma’azu said.
Awaited outcomes
Meanwhile in some States where the contest was tough, results are awaited, though signs have emerged by results declared so far of the likely winners.
In Lagos State, incumbent Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu running as the candidate of the APC, is coasting to victory as the results declared so far by INEC shows he was leading in 17 of the 20 LGAs of the State as at the time of filing this report.
The election is a contest between Sanwo-Olu of the ruling APC, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV) of the Labour Party and Adediran Abdul-Azeez (Jandor) of the PDP.
In Akwa-Ibom State the governorship candidate of the PDP, Pastor Umo Eno won 29 of the 31 LGAs while the Young Progressives Party (YPP) Senator Bassey Akpan won his own LGA, Ibiono Ibom and Ikono LGAs, the official declaration by INEC was awaited as at the time of filing this report.
In Bauchi State, Governor Bala Mohammed of the PDP who is seeking reelection is leading the main opposition in the State, APC with 49,592 votes after INEC’s declaration of results of 14 LGAs on Sunday.
As at the time of filing this report, Governor Mohammed who has so far polled 273,251 votes was leading his closest rival from the APC, Air Marshall Saddique Abubakar who has gotten 223,659 votes.
In Borno State, Professor Babagaba Zulum who is also seeking reelection on the platform of the APC, as at the time of filing this report, was leading in 22 LGAs out of the 27 LGAs of the state.
Governor Zulum was leading with a wide margin ahead of other gubernatorial candidates contesting the race.
Meanwhile in Rivers as at the time of filing this report, the PDP was leading in 17 of the 23 LGAs of the State from the results of the governorship election so far collated.
The main opposition party APC has maintained a distant second, while the Social Democratic Party is maintaining the third position followed by the Labour Party.
…Allegations of inducement, harassment, results manipulation will be reviewed — INEC
Meanwhile, the results declared so far by INEC have been contested by those who the results were not in their favour.
However, INEC on its part has pledged to thoroughly review the results of Saturday’s Governorship and States Assembly Elections.
The Commission’s position trailed allegations of voter harassment, inducement and manipulation of results in several places.
At a news conference Sunday evening in Abuja, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu disclosed the readiness of the Commission to review the allegations.
Yakubu who was represented by a National Commissioner and Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye, however said there was a substantial improvement in the performances of INEC ad-hoc personnel and its equipment.
He also explained why the Commission has not uploaded all the results of the February 25 Presidential election to its results viewing portal IReV.
As of Sunday night, presidential election results from 166,656 polling units, translating to 94.24 per cent had been uploaded to the portal, out of 176,606 polling units where elections were scheduled to take place.
He said, “The Commission did not deploy to 176,846 polling units during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections. We explained to Nigerians that there were polling units that had zero registered voters and consequently, the Commission deployed to a total of 176,606 polling units.
“Not only that, there were places where elections did not take place and there were places where the deployment did not take place. So in those areas, you do not expect any results to be uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing Portal for such areas.
“So, the Commission, before we reconfigured the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the Governorship and State Assembly Elections, we made sure that data that were left behind in the BVAS relating to the Presidential and National Assembly Elections were pushed to the backend for purposes of giving those who want to go to court or giving litigants the opportunity of having the data from the backend of the Commission relating to those who were accredited during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
“Political parties and candidates have been applying for this particular data and the Commission has been making the accreditation data available to all those who are interested.
“With the governorship election, you can see that there has been improved performance of the IReV in terms of uploading of polling units results in real time. You can also notice that there was improved performance in terms of voter identification and authentication. Now, what that means is that the Commission is making progress and also making efforts to overcome whatever challenges were recorded during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“We have left no stone unturned as far as the processes and procedures under the control of the Commission were concerned.
“However, for difficult and unforeseen circumstances outside the Commission’s control, we did our best to respond, especially where processes were disrupted by actors over whom we have little or no control.
“Such diabolical behaviour did not only affect citizens but also impacted on the Commission’s officials and processes. INEC staff, both regular and ad hoc were victims of violence. Some of our staff were abducted, harassed, intimidated, hospitalised and in one case killed.
“Nevertheless, where we could not deploy to enable citizens to vote, the Commission took the decision to remobilise to such places to enable citizens to exercise their franchise. Unfortunately, we could not extend the same to areas where voting was disrupted, and election materials destroyed. We are keeping our eyes on those areas and would not hesitate to remobilise where the outcome of the election is affected.
“At the moment, the collation of results and declaration of winners for the 28 Governorship and 993 State Assembly elections are ongoing nationwide. We are committed to the sanctity of the process and will not hesitate to take drastic measures against proven irregularities. Allegations of voter inducement, harassment and manipulation of results will be reviewed and addressed.”
Stating that the Commission is still collating figures relating to the number of staff abducted, he said, “Some have been released and some are still facing various degrees of threats in various States of the Federation. At the end of the exercise, we will have full details about the incidents.”
Governorship elections were held in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states on Saturday.
The 28 states where governorship elections were last Saturday, March 18 are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara.
Of the 28 states, 11 serving governors including Makinde sought reelection, while 17 outgoing governors are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, having been sworn in on May 29, 2015.
Eight of the 36 states – Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo – have governorship elections ‘off-season’ due to litigations and court judgements. Osun and Ekiti had their governorship election last year.
While mixed reactions trailed the Saturday polls, President Muhammadu Buhari, said the scarcity of Naira notes reduced the incidence of vote-buying.
The President, after voting in Daura, Katsina State, on Saturday urged Nigerians to collect money offered to them by vote-buyers but vote their conscience.
“I am aware that the money is not there like before for people to sway voters, like they used to do. And if they bring out money, the people should pocket it and still vote their conscience,” Buhari told journalists after voting at Ward A, Sarkin Yara Polling Unit, 003, in Katsina.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday. The statement was titled ‘Nigerians know we mean what we say, they will vote for us again, says President Buhari.’
President was quoted as saying his regime had “diminished” the practice of vote-buying.
He boasted that the APC would emerge victorious in the governorship and State Assembly elections nationwide.