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  • INEC adjourns for an hour, to take remaining states tonight

    .Results from 26 states, FCT have been submitted

     

    The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said that the commission is going to take the results from the remaining states.

    Results from 27 states have already been taking including FCT.

    The second collation day commenced with Niger state which also went to the APC with 612,371 votes to 218, 052 for PDP. There are 2,375,568 registered voters across the 15 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 911,964 accredited voters.

    The state recorded a total vote cast of 896,976 and 851,937 valid votes. 45 votes were rejected while 71,200 were cancelled.

    In Jigawa state Buhari scored 794,738 against Atiku’s 289,895 votes.

    Jigawa with 27 LGAs, has 2 ,104,889 registered voter population of which 1,171,801 were accredited to vote while the State recorded a total vote cast of 1,149,922 .

    The recorded valid vote for Jigawa is 1,106,244 while 43, 678 votes were rejected.

    Kaduna state also go to Buhari with 993,445 votes as against PDP’s 640, 612 votes.

    Atiku fought back in Anambra state with 524,738 votes as against APC 33,298.

    He also had a slim victory in Oyo state as PDP scored 366,690 as against 365,229 for APC.

    Adamawa also went into the bag of PDP candidate who happens to be from that state. He won with 410,266 votes against Buhari’s 378,078 votes.

    Adamawa with 21 LGAs has 1,959,322 registered population with only 874,920 accredited voters.

    The total valid vote is 811,534 while rejected votes are 49,222 given a total number of 860,756.

    Bauchi went to the APC scored 798,428 while PDP scored 209,313. Valid vote 1,024, 307 rejected votes 37,648 and total vote cast is 1,061, 955

    APC also captured Lagos votes as it edged PDP with 580,825 against the opposition’s 448,015.

    The ruling party also followed with victory in Ogun state where it scored 281,762 as against PDP’s 194, 655. The registered number of voters for Ogun state is 2,336,887 while 613,399 was accredited and total vote cast stood at 605,938.

    Edo state with 18 Local Government Areas and 2,150,127 registered voters, went to Atiku of the PDP with a vote of 275, 691 as against Muhammmed Buhari who scored 267,842 votes.

    Accredited voters the poll was 604,915 while total valid vote is 560,711. The total rejected poll is 38, 517, given a total vote cast 599, 228.

    The number of cancellation which was carried out in 48 polling units is 42,176.

    The vote of Benue state went to PDP as it pulled a narrow margin victory over the ruling party with a figure of 356,817 as against APC’s 347,668.

    Edo with a voter populations of 2, 391,276 has a total vote cast of 763,872, while the valid vote is 728,912.

    The rejected vote is 34,960 while 122,989 votes were cancelled in 172 polling units.

    Atiku also picked Imo with 334,923 votes as against APC’s 140,463 votes.

    There are 2,037,569 registered voters while 585,741 were accredited to vote. The valid vote is 511,586 and rejected vote is 31,191. Hence, the total vote cast is 542,777 while 63,048 votes were cancelled in 97 polling units in twelve LGAs.

    Plateau state also gave its vote to Atiku as he scored 548,665 while Buhari scored 468,555.

    The registered voter population is 2,423, 381 while accredited voter for the election is 1,074,042.

    The total valid vote is 1,034,853 and the total vote cast is 1,063,862. The number of rejected vote is 28,009.

    Kano as expected went to Buhari who scored 1,464,768 against Atiku’s 392,593 votes. Kano which has a total registered vote population of 5,381,581 only second to Lagos recorded the highest turnout with 2,006,410 accredited voters.

    The total vote cast is 1,964,751 while valid vote stood at 1,891,134. Rejected vote is 73,617 and the cancelled vote is 43,900, affecting 69 polling units.

    Katsina also went the way of Buhari who scored 1,232,133 against Atiku’s 308,056.

    Buhari hails from Katsina state which has 3r LGAs.

    The total registered voters is 3,219,422 while 1,628,865 were accredited for the election. The total valid vote in Katsina is 1,555,473 while 1,619,185 vote cast stood.

    The rejected vote is 63,712 and the cancelled vote is 12,027.

    Taraba which is the last state taken before going on an hour break went to the PDP with 374,743 votes as against APC’s 326 996 votes.

    The total registered vote is 1,777,105 while the accredited voter is 756 111.

    712 877 valid votes was recorded while the rejected vote is 28,687 and the total vote cast is 741,564.

    Cancellation of votes happened in t7 polling units across 12 LGAs, which affected 45,066 voters.

  • APC’s Odebiyi wins Ogun West

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer for the Ogun West Senatorial district, Prof. Taofeek Shittu, has declared the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Tolu Odebiyi, winner of the Saturday Senatorial election in the district.

    Shittu, who announced Odebiyi winner on Tuesday at the collation centre in Oronna hall, Ilaro, added the APC candidate polled the highest votes of 58,452.

    Odebiyi’s closest rival was Engr. Olusegun Gbeleyi of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), who scored 48,611 votes while Hon. Leye Odunjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came third with 43,454 votes.

    INEC had on Sunday declared Governor Ibikunle Amosun who contested on the platform of the APC winner of the Ogun Central Senatorial polls while the senatorial election in Ogun East has been declared inconclusive.

    Odebiyi, who is the former Chief of Staff to Governor Ibikunle Amosun, has dedicated his victory to “all those who have endured indignities but remained principled on behalf of the people of Ogun – West.”

    Odebiyi expressed gratitude to the people of the area for the opportunity extended to him to serve.

    He said: “It is with a humble heart and gratitude to God Almighty that I accept the result of my election to represent the good people of Ogun West Senatorial District in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “First, I wish to express my undying gratitude to the people of Ogun West for their practical demonstration of love as we campaigned for this election and for their indubitable and preferential choice for me being validated here today. I am very grateful.

    “May I also thank all the officials who conducted this election on behalf of the INEC and commend you all for your dedication and patriotism in the face of unprecedented inducements and temptations challenging a free and fair outcome.

    “This victory is dedicated to all those who have endured indignities but remained principled on behalf of the people of Ogun West.

    “Please be assured that I will continue to stand with you shoulder to shoulder in raising higher the flag of progress and prosperity for the people of Ogun West.“

  • INEC disenfranchised 8m South east voters, Obi alleges

    Vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Mr. Peter Obi on Tuesday said the results declared by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from Anambra state was unacceptable to the party.

    He accused the electoral umpire of disenfranchising over 8 million registered voters in the South East in Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Addressing newsmen in his Onitsha residence, Obi lamented that the elections were systematically planned to ensure the zone did not participate fully in the exercise.

    He argued only 20 percent were able to cast their votes out of 10 million registered voters in the region.

    According to him: “You will recall that on the Election Day, I said that the process was clumsy and we also had major problem of card readers and most people could not vote.

    “When over 400,000 Card Readers got burnt, it became clear that something was wrong somewhere and INEC could not save the situation and they will not allow people to vote manually.

    “But in some other parts of the country people were allowed to vote manually and it was accepted by the electoral body.

    “Now how can you tell me that a state like Yobe and Borno produced the number of voters that is higher than Anambra and Ebony states put together?

    “The two states are areas that have been at war and I wonder how they got Card Readers that are working so well despite the war situation that they found themselves.”

    Obi regretted the retrogressive disposition the country was tilting towards, noting instead of building on achievements of the 2015 general elections, the nation was on a reverse

    He added: “The impressive turn out of voters was discouraged by the performance of the electoral body last Saturday.”

    Obi further decried the harassment and attacks members of his party suffered in the hands of security agencies targeted at intimidating them.

    He however stated it was not in his powers to announce any demand for the cancellation of the election, saying, “It is left for the party to make its position clear on the matter.”

  • Card Reader: INEC cancels 54,668 votes in Ebonyi

    The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) Ebonyi State Collation Officer, Prof. Chukwuemeka Eze, on Tuesday in Abuja said that 54,668 votes were cancelled in the state due to card readers related issues.

    Eze, who is also the Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, disclosed this while giving a breakdown of the election results for 13 Local Government Areas (LGA) of the state at the INEC National Collation Centre in Abuja.

    According to him, “a total number of 1,392,931 were registered voters; 391,747 voters were accredited; 379,394 votes were cast and a total of 359,131 were recorded as valid votes, while 20,263 were rejected in the 13 LGA of the state”.

    Eze said that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) garnered 258, 575 votes, the All Progressives Party (APC) scored 90, 726 votes while the Africa Action Congress (AAC) scored 205 votes.

    The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, thereafter adjourned proceedings to 10:a.m.

  • PDP rejects results in Kano

    The leadership of the People’s Democratic Party PDP in Kano have rejected the presidential results compiled in Kano by INEC.
    The party agent at the collation Rabiu Sulaiman Bichi, who is also the chairman of the party in the state expressed disgust with the way in which figures were inflated in the results.
    According to him “we cannot accept such inflated figures and that is our stand, so we will go back and analyse the issue to know the next line of action to take.”
    “As you can see the presiding officers complained of lack of use of card readers during the voting exercise of the presidential and national assembly elections in the state coupled with over-voting.
    Asked whether the PDP will institute a legal action over the narratives, Sulaiman said ” we shall look at the circumstances and provisions of the law and see what the law says so as to pursue our rights.”

  • Buhari wins Sokoto with 490,333 votes

    All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari has won in Sokoto state with 490,333 votes against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party who scored 361,604 votes.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) state collation officer, Professor Muhammad Yahuza declared Monday evening.

    The results is collated from across 23 LGs of the state.

  • Senator Omo-Agege re-elected

    Results for the Senate and House of Representatives in last Saturday’s election in Delta state started trickling out on Monday evening.

    After a rather slow and tiring process, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released some of the results in the Delta Central and South Senatorial Districts.

    In Delta Central, the incumbent senator, representing the district, who is also the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, emerged winner, having polled 111,100 votes.

    According to the Returning Officer of the contest, Professor Godfrey Ariavie, who called the results out in Ughelli, Omo-Agege defeated his closest opponent and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Evelyn Oboro, who polled 99,422 votes.

    Also, the candidate of the APC for the Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency, Revd Ejiroghene Waive, was declared winner of the election, polling a total of 41,385.

    Returning Officer of the contest, Dr. Igbinoba Eghosa, said Waive thrashed his closest candidates of the PDP, Hon Samuel Marierie, who polled 35,126 and the incumbent, Hon Solomon Awhinawhi, who is the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and polled 11,098 votes.

    At the Delta South Senatorial District, results were yet to be released.

    As at the time of filing this report, results for Warri Federal Constituency were still not fully ready.

    Read Also: UPU endorse Buhari, Ogboru, Omo-Agege

    Out of the three council areas of the constituency, only two had been ready as at 6:40pm.

    Declaring those of Warri South and Warri North at Nana College, GRA, Warri, the Returning Officer for the constituency, Dr Samuel Osifo, said he was still waiting for results from Warri South-West.

    In Warri South, the candidate of the PDP, Chief Thomas Ereyitomi, polled 23,016 against the incumbent and candidate of the SDP, Hon Daniel Reyeineiju, who scored 3,733, and the candidate of the APC, Mr Alex Eyengho’s 7,291.

    In Warri North, PDP polled 25,788, against SDP’s 8,326 and APC’s 4,921.

  • Ngige: INEC shouldn’t be crucified for electoral irregularities

    Minister of Employment Dr. Chris Ngige on Monday absolved the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of culpability over certain irregularities experienced during Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    He said the involvement of non-permanent staff of the commission makes it impossible for electoral irregularities not to be witnessed in any election.

    Fielding questions from journalists at the INEC collation centre in Awka, the Minister attributed most of the problems to the ad-hoc staff recruited for the exercise.

    He said: “You see when we talk about INEC, I like to be fair to them. INEC has both permanent and ad-hoc staff.

    “Lots of these problems emanate from the ad-hoc staff and you know they don’t owe deep loyalty to the commission.

    Read Also: Ndigbo endorsed Atiku in error, says Ngige

    “Government has tried to find a way around it by insisting they use federal government civil servants and lecturers in federal universities.

    “So if these ones misbehave, they can be punished according to civil service rules.”

    Ngige however canvassed early training for the ad-hoc staff and continuous training for the permanent ones as a way of mitigating the challenge.

    On the Presidential results so far released by the INEC, the Minister said he was not surprised at the outcome, expressing confidence that President Buhari would be re-elected.

    “What else do you expect? We’re expecting to clear more states, especially those with big votes,” he asserted.

    He however asked those who eventually emerge winners to be magnanimous with victory while those that lost should accept defeat in good faith.

    He said: “We expect that as a game, those who lost will try next time and for those who win to be magnanimous with victory.”

  • INEC shouldn’t be crucified for electoral irregularities – Ngige

    Minister of Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige on Monday absorbed the Independent National electoral commission (INEC) over certain irregularities experienced during elections.

    He said the involvement of non-permanent staff of the commission makes it impossible for electoral irregularities not to be witnessed in any election.

    Fielding questions from journalists at the INEC collation center in Awka, the Minister attributed most of the problems to the ad-hoc staff recruited for the exercise.

    He said, “You see when we talk about INEC, I like to be fair to them. INEC has both permanent and ad-hoc staff.

    “Lots of these problems emanate from the ad-hoc staff and you know they don’t owe deep loyalty to the commission.

    “Government has tried to find a way around it by insisting they use federal government civil servants and lecturers in federal universities.

    “So if these ones misbehave, they can be punished according to civil service rules.”

    Ngige however canvassed for early training for the ad-hoc staff and continuous training for the permanent ones as a way of mitigating the challenge.

    On the presidential results so far released by the INEC, the Minister said he was not surprised at the outcome, expressing confidence that President Buhari would be reelected.

    “What else do you expect? We’re expecting to clear more states, especially those with big votes,” he asserted.

    He however asked those who eventually emerge winners to be magnanimous with victory while those that lost should accept defeat in good faith.

    He said, “We expect that as a game, those who lost will try next time, and for those who win to be magnanimous with victory.“

  • Protest rocks Bayelsa as PDP demands poll cancellation

    Stern-looking soldiers on Monday barricaded the road leading to office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, following a protest by hundreds of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the state.

    PDP leaders, including members of the state Executive Council and National Assembly candidates of the party in the just-concluded general elections, led hordes of other party members to demand cancellation of results in some local government areas.

    Clad in black attire, the protesters were stopped at the entrance of the road leading to Swali, where the INEC office is located in Yenagoa by two military Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and other fully armed soldiers.

    The protesters chanted solidarity songs until the Administrative Secretary of INEC in the state, Mr. Leberi Sampson, walked a few meters from the commission’s office to listen to their grievances.

    Leaders of the protest were the state Chairman of the PDP, Cleopas Moses; Secretary to the state Government, Kemela Okara; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson; House of Representative member and senatorial candidate, Douye Diri, among others.

    They lamented the elections in Bassambiri and some wards in Southern Ijaw were marred by violence, saying they failed the test of credibility and procedure established by the commission.

    They complained the exercise in Nembe-Bassambiri was completely marred by violence and shootings alleging that opposition leaders in the area kidnapped some INEC officials and forced them to write the results.

    They insisted that elections did not take place in Bassambiri and urged the commission to reject results that gave the All Progressives Congress (APC) victory in the area including Southern Ijaw.

    In the results, the APC candidate for Brass -Nembe Federal Constituency, Israel Sunny-Goli reportedly won the candidate of the PDP, Marie Ebikake while APC Preye Oseke was said to have won the Speaker, Kombowei Benson, in Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency.

    But the SSG, Kemela Okara, while reporting the alleged irregularities in the local government areas to INEC, said there was no election in the seven wards in Bassambiri adding the results for the wards were written by APC leaders.

    Okara said a similar incident happened in Southern Ijaw wards 4, 12 and 16 and called on the commission to cancel the results and conduct fresh elections in the affected areas.

    He alleged that soldiers were deployed in the affected areas to subvert the will of the people in connivance with APC leaders.

    He said: “We want INEC to do the right thing. Your guidelines should guide everything.

    “We have told you clearly that those guidelines were not enforced and that was why we came out.

    “So, we trust that you will escalate the matters that had been raised. We expect them to be properly addressed so that we can resolve this matter in all those areas in Southern Ijaw and Nembe.

    “Seven wards in Bassambiri and Southern Ijaw Ward 4, 12 and 16 were affected. Those results should be cancelled.

    “We are ready to vote and we are confident that if given a chance to vote, we will test our popularity.

    “In this case it is not acceptable that some people deem it fit to use military to subvert the will of the people”.

    Reacting to their grievances, Sampson said INEC would accept results that failed to conform with the established standard of the commission.

    He said: “I want to assure you that INEC Bayelsa State is a law-abiding institution. Our Abuja office is aware of every decision that we take here.

    “I am in charge of INEC situation room as the administrative secretary and I report every single incident that happens to the chairman directly.

    “As I leave here I am going to escalate this report to the chairman and I am sure he will give his directive on the next step to take.

    “There are some results from presiding offices in some of the wards you are talking about.

    “We are processing them. I have minuted it to the electoral officer in charge of those local governments and I have asked them to escalate it to the collation officer in line with our guidelines.

    “It is only when that is done and INEC has come to announce the results officially, that is when you will know whether what we have done is in line with the principles and guidelines concerning this election or not.

    “Lives have been lost. My EOs and officers were also held hostage. I know what the military did to rescue them. Give us the opportunity to do the right thing. Don’t take laws into your hand”.