Tag: Nigeria Votes 2019
-
Polls: Six NASS candidates file petition at tribunal
A total of six candidates that lost during the National Assembly election have filed petitions at the Edo State Election Petitions Tribunal.
The six candidates comprise three candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and three candidates of the All Progressives Congress.
They are all asking the tribunal to declare them winner of their various elections for scoring majority of lawful votes.
Those that have filed petitions for the House of Representatives are Hon Ehiozuwa Agbonyinma, Hon Omosede Igbinedion, Hon Idiake Patrick and Chief Blessing Agbomhere.
The senatorial candidates that filed petitions are Engr. Abubakar Momoh for Edo North and Mr. John Inegbedion for Edo Central.
In his petition against Jude Ise-Idehen of the PDP, Hon Agbonyinma urged the tribunal to declare him winner of the election.
He said he wants to reclaim his mandate ‘that was stolen by some dubious characters in INEC in collaboration with some PDP leaders and security men and women.’
According to him, “I have always said the APC won the Presidential election for Mr. President and I won the election for Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Constituency which I contested for.”
Agbomhere said nobody in Estako Constituency voted for the APC in the February 23rd elections.
He said he scored the highest votes cast.
“There was massive corrupt practices and thump printing of ballot papers by leadership of the APC. Nobody in Estako voted for the APC.
“I am asking the tribunal to declare me winner of the election.”
Engr Momoh who contested against incumbent Senator Francis Alimikhena, insisted that he won the election because he scored over 80,000 votes which has been the required numbers to win election in Edo North since 1999.
“I have the required votes anybody has gotten since 1999. I am asking the tribunal to expunge all the votes the APC allocated to themselves
“Once you have votes up to 80,000 in Edo North, you have won. Whatever’s they have is a product of manipulation.”
Inegbedion who is challenging the election of Senator Clifford Ordia of the PDP in Edo Central said he would prove malpractices and thump printing of ballot papers during the election.
Read Also: Six policemen detained over burning of INEC facility
He said he won the election.
Omosede who lost to Dennis Idahosa of the APC said she won majority of lawful votes in the election and that the results were not a true reflection of the people of Ovia Constituency.
Her words, “There are several grounds which we intend to challenge the election. First thing is the candidate of the APC. There are so many things we know that tell us he was not worthy to contest the election.
“We want to contest the results which was not a reflection of Ovia Constituency. The people of Ovia came out to vote for the PDP. Where the discrepancies came from in Ovia South West were unfounded. I have several projects and there was no reason for us to lose the election.
“This mandate will be recovered. We are going to prove that he is not worthy to be at the House of Representatives. I am asking the tribunal to declare me the winner.”
-
Wild jubilation in Edo over Buhari’s victory
Residents of Edo State including traders, artisans and youths on Wednesday joined in a wild jubilation to celebrate the victory of President Mohammadu Buhari in last Saturday’s general elections.
They danced through major streets of Benin City to also shore up support for the All Progressives Congress(APC) ahead of March 9 House of Assembly election.
Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, Secretary to the Edo State Government, Barr. Osarodion Ogie, Edo Youth Leader of the APC, Valentine Asuen joined in the victory dance.
At the Oba Market, traders came out their shops to cheer the APC victory train.
Speaking to newsmen, Shaibu said the road show dance was to appreciate Edo people for the improvement at the polls.
Shaibu assured the March 9 House of Assembly elections would be a smooth sailing for the APC
Secretary to the Edo APC, Lawrence Okah, said the victory of Buhari has shamed many pastors in the country.
Okah said Nigerians proved the Pastors wrong that Buhari is not a murderer.
He stated that Buhari’s integrity was the party’s watchword in the campaign.
He said Nigerians know the difference between a thief and a sincere person.
-
Observers rate Sokoto elections free, fair
Domestic Election Observers that monitored Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections in Sokoto state have rated the elections as free and fair.
Addressing a news conference on Wednesday in Sokoto, Leader of the observer groups, Mrs Grace Okonkwo, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on its efforts.
Okonkwo from Youth Initiative for Better Nigeria, said in spite of the challenges on card reader inefficiency, security breaches and others, INEC’s performance was remarkably well.
She however, stressed that the law allowed participating organs to express their grievances.
She mentioned that disturbances occurred in Dange Shuni, Wurno, Tureta, Rabah, Wamakko, Goronyo and Sabonbirni local government areas.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state had rejected the election results won by the All Progressive Congress (APC) across the state.
The state PDP Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Milgoma, told the newsmen that the party would challenge the election outcome in court.
-
Ezekwesili garners 7,223 votes despite withdrawing ambition
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared President Muhammadu Buhari winner of Saturday’s presidential election.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, while announcing the results early on Wednesday in Abuja said Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 15,191,847 votes to defeat his main challenger, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 11,262,978 votes.
Also in the results announced, the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) polled a total of 7, 223 votes.
The presidential candidate of the party and a former Minister of Education, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, had earlier announced her withdrawal from the presidential race, citing lack of support for her vision by the party leadership.
The party leadership headed by Alhaji Abdul-Ganiyu Galadima immediately refuted Ezekwesili’s claims, saying that the former minister was rather pursuing a personal agenda and was never serious about her ambition.
INEC had also said Ezewkwesili’s withdrawal had come too late and that it was not possible for the commission to substitute her name on the presidential list.
In spite of that, Ezekwesili did not reverse her decision as she suspended all her campaign activities.
A total of 73 candidates contested the 2019 presidential election which held on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019.
-
PDP queries non-use of Card Readers in some states
….Dispute results from Bauchi, Borno, Yobe
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has queried the non-use of the Smart Card Readers in the conduct of the last Saturday presidential election in some part of the country.
The party therefore asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to project what the Smart Cars Readers captured as accreditation figure before the Collation continues.
The protest, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu however said should be channeled to the commission’s headquarters.
Speaking Tuesday at the ongoing Collation of result of presidential election in Abuja, PDP agent, Mr. Osita Chidoka queried why the card readers should be made compulsory in some part of the country whereas, it is not in other part.
Chidoka who was categorical about results from Bauchi, Borno and Yobe said the party has documented its observations as an official petition to the commission.
He said: “The issue before us, Mr. Chairman is that we feel strongly about and the chairman of the PDP has written you a petition. We are worried that the promise you made, the commitment you made and INEC made that as we are doing this collation of results, you will give us the details of accreditation captured by the card reader in the country.
“Yesterday (Monday) my colleague raised the issue and we thought that when we come back this morning as we are listening to the states, we will be seeing the accreditation by the states by the card reader.
“This Mr. Chairman, I like it to be on record that we want to see the accreditation for Bauchi state, for Borno state and Yobe in particular and of course, for the rest of the country because the number as we are seeing, it seems to me that we live in two countries.
“Why people in the south have issues with the SCR, why complaints were all over the place, we seem to have quiet and peaceful elections in places where the people have complained of severe cases of insecurity and harassments by the military and bandits.
“So, we would like you Mr. Chairman and I forward this letter to you to say that we will appeal that if it is possible Mr. Chairman that before we proceed to the next state you should please, project to us what the card reader has captured as the accreditation in these states.
“We are supposed to read from the card reader, the electronic collation as against the manual information that we are getting to process information here. While it isn’t yet signed into law in your guidelines it was made clear that no voting should take place where there are no card readers. So, Mr. Chairman, we must appeal to you that we would like you to project these accreditation as done by the card reader.
“Please, if any of your staff is available he can please, take a copy of this letter from the chairman of the PDP saying that what we are doing here will require us to have the accreditation as done by the electronic card reader.”
However, in his response INEC boss urged the protesting party to submit its letter to the commission’s headquarters.
He assured PDP that the commission will surely look into the petition and respond accordingly.
“Thank you Mr. Chidoka. But there is a procedure for submitting correspondence to the Commission.
“We haven’t shut down our office. This is the International Conference Centre where we are using as collation centre. Kindly submit your letter to the office, it will be acknowledged. Your letter will now be studied and we will respond, accordingly. I believe that there are details in the letter that we need to study,” Yakubu said.
-
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.”
-
Atiku wins Taraba with 374,743 votes
In a closely fought poll, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has won Taraba state.
He polled 374, 743 votes to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari, the flag bearer of the All progressives Congress (APC) who trailed him closely with 324, 906 votes.
INEC returning officer for Taraba state, Prof. Shehu Adamu who announced the result, said 1,777, 105 persons registered for the election, of which 756, 111 voters were accredited.
There were 712, 877 valid votes out of the 741, 564 number of votes cast.
28, 687 votes were rejected.
-
Buhari wins landslide in Borno
The official results for the presidential elections in Borno State has been announced with President Muhammadu Buhari of APC winning the state landslide.
The State Returning Officer for the Presidential election Prof. Saminu Ibrahim of ATBU Bauchi who announced the results said President Buhari of APC scored 836,496 ahead of his closest rival Atiku Abubakar of PDP who got 71,788.
A summary of the results show as follows:
APC Buhari = 836, 496PDP Atiku= 71, 788
Total Valid votes for Borno= 919, 783
Total rejected voted for Borno= 35, 419
Total vote cast for Borno= 955, 202
-
Senator Urhoghide re-elected in Edo
Senator Matthew Urhoghide of the Peoples Democratic Party has been re-elected to represent Edo South Senatorial district.
He polled 135,588 to defeat his All Progressives Congress opponent, Hon Patrick Obahiagbon.
Returning Officer, Prof Joseph Osemwenkha, who announced the result said Obahiagbon scored 121,957.