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Tag: presidential candidate

  • Southsouth… Where art the huge votes?

    In 2015, the Southsouth was dominated by the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, is an indigene of Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. He had huge votes from the region. But in the February 23 presidential election, the Southsouth could not return huge figues for PDP candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. In this piece, BISI OLANIYI, OKUNGBOWA AIWERIE, NICHOLAS KALU, OSAGIE OTABOR, BASSEY ANTHONY, and MIKE ODIEGWU x-ray why the huge votes suddenly disappeared.

    Rivers:

    Rivers State politics was dominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), until November 27, 2013, when the then incumbent governor, Rotimi Amaechi, now Transportation Minister, defected to help midwife the All Progressives Congress (APC). The aim was to defeat Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, of the PDP, who was president.

    The 2015 polls witnessed so much violence. Many APC members were either  killed or  injured before, during and after the elections, with the state becoming “Rivers of Blood” and many voters were disenfranchised through massive rigging, thuggery and violence.

    During the 2015 presidential election in Rivers, the total votes cast was 1,584,768, with APC getting 69,238, while PDP got 1,487,075. In 2019 in the state, the total votes cast was 666,585, with APC getting 150,710, even after 72,000 votes in Emohua LGA was unconstitutionally removed, and PDP getting 473,971.

    The Coordinator of APC’s Presidential Campaign Council in Rivers, Pastor Tonye Cole, declared that the era of bogus electoral figures was gone in Rivers state.

    Cole said: “Gone are the days when political thugs would hijack electoral materials and allocate hundreds of thousands of imaginary votes to their party. The results from the various units, wards and LGAs (in Rivers State) confirm these and further highlight the depth of rigging and manipulation of the 2015 elections that APC as a party had complained about.”

    Wike, through Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Emma Okah, who doubles as the Director of Information and Communications of Rivers PDP Campaign Council, however, claimed that Rivers people massively voted for PDP candidates in 2015, but security agents prevented them from repeating the feat during the 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections.

     

    Delta:

     

    The results of the presidential poll in Delta show that the PDP garnered  594,068 of the valid votes in the election, while the APC had 221,292 votes.

    Although Delta has 2,719,313 registered voters for the elections, only 891,647 persons were accredited to vote. The figure represents 50.61 per cent of the registered voters in the state.

    The overall election results showed that the APC had an impressive showing, scoring 221,292 compared with its performance of 48,910 during the 2015 presidential election. The APC’s showing during the 2019 presidential and National Assembly polls represented a 63.79 percentage increase.

    On the contrary, the results announced by INEC last week showed that the PDP in Delta  state performed poorly, judging by its performance in 2015, when it secured 1,211,405 votes at the presidential election. The PDP regressed with a 34.19 percentage decrease after it polled 594,068 in the 2019 presidential polls.

    The APC’s impressive showing in last weekend’s election in Delta has been attributed partly to the  unity driven campaign launched by the party’s 2015 governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, as well as the political clout of the incumbent, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege in Delta Central Senatorial District.

    The performance of the APC, in spite of the factional crisis in the party makes the increase more remarkable.

    The presence in the APC of former two-time PDP governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was the Delta South senatorial candidate of the party in the election, might have contributed to the increased number of votes scored by the party.

    Unlike in 2015, when the PDP won all the federal constituency seats in Delta state, in 2019, the party won nine seats, with the APC’s Francis Waive securing the Ughelli/Udu federal constituency seat.

    Also in 2015, of the three senatorial seats, the ruling PDP won two seats: Delta South and Delta North, while Senator Omo-Agege of the Labour Party (LP) won Delta Central seat, before he defected to the APC.

    Senator Omo-Agege repeated the feat in 2019 by clinching the seat for a second time, defeating his closest rival, Ms. Evelyn Oboroh, PDP, in a keenly-contested race. The PDP won two senate seats: Delta North and Delta South.

    In 2015, the contest was a three-horse race, involving Great Ogboru (LP), Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP) and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor (APC), but in 2019, the race has been between the APC and PDP.

    A chieftain of the PDP, Mr. Frank Igwebeze, attributed the poor showing of the PDP in 2019 to the order by Buhari for ballot box snatchers to be dealt with ruthlessly, saying the common man in the rural communities in Delta state feared the worst and decided to stay away.

     

    Cross River:

     

    There was a time in the present democratic dispensation, when the ruling PDP in Cross River State always thrashed any opposition at the polls. The PDP always scored figures ridiculously higher than any closest rival in any electoral contest in the state. This was a scenario that even played out even in the elections in 2015.

    A look at the result of the presidential election in 2015, and looking at the situation as it is today, shows a lot of factors have played out. The results in 2019 showed a marked difference from how election results used to be in the state and this has raised questions: Were the results bogus in the past? Are we getting more realistic results today? Does this mean votes are actually counting today more than they used to be in the past?

    In 2015 in Cross River state, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP scored 414,868 votes, while Muhammadu Buhari of the APC got a paltry 28,368 votes. The APC had, however, gone ahead to be winners in the presidential elections in the country. In 2019, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP got  295,737 votes to beat Buhari, who came second with 117,302 votes. This is despite the fact that elections did not hold in some wards in areas like Bakassi and Boki. Also, the elections for the entire Etung was also cancelled.

    At this point, it would be pertinent to point out that a major factor to this development could be the political configuration in the state today, as against how it was in the last four years. Largely responsible for this was that there was no strong opposition in the state at any point before 2015.

    All political heavyweights in Cross River then were members of the PDP, who had political structures across the state.  So, it was always a smooth ride for the PDP in any election. In fact, then, politicians only fought to secure the tickets of the PDP.

    In the buildup to the 2015 elections, and even in the aftermath, so many spats arose within the PDP that led to the eventual exodus of political heavyweights across the 18 LGAs of the state. A good number of these heavyweights are in the APC. Some of such top politicians are: Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Senator John Owan-Enoh, Prince Bassey Otu and Dr. Alex Egbona, among others.

    So, when the elections came around again in 2019, it was a different ball game. This time round, it was not exactly an underdog situation for the opposition APC in the state, as the contest was more like a clash of titans. So, results from the polls, especially in areas where the APC leaders came from, showed a marked difference. In fact, many of the APC stalwarts won elections in their areas. At best, there were hardly cases of landslide winnings by the PDP, as it was in the past.

    For APC politicians who had mobilised their people to come out and vote, the presidential candidate of the party (President Buhari) benefited from the goodwill they enjoyed with their people. For example, in the February 23 elections, a lot of voters went for the politicians they know and in the same vein voted for every candidate of their party on the ballot. This turned out kindly for the presidential figures. People who went out to vote their National Assembly members of the APC, who campaigned vigorously, ensured they voted for the APC on all the ballots to avoid mistakes. This scenario, it was observed, played out more in rural areas than urban centres. This could account for the sharp increase for the numbers of the main opposition, APC, in the last elections.

    In contrast to this is also the sharp drop of the figure for the PDP. From over 400,000 votes in 2015 to less than 300,000 votes in 2019 seems a long way. This has made people believe that given that the PDP was in charge of everything in the state at the time and given that rigging was more a menace then than it is now, that figures for the ruling party were always inflated beyond proportion. Now, this may prove a bit difficult as the opposition in the state has also developed muscles and can match the PDP squarely in pretty every department, as far as elections are concerned.

    The better fortune of the APC in Cross River state created more committed members and this has led to improved vigilance of the party’s agents and members on election day in the state. This is because irrespective of the fact that the party polled 117, 000 votes, it could still have been possible for the PDP to inflate their own figures and still leave a wide gap between the two figures, but the opposition’s vigilance from the polling units to the various collation points by agents of the party for the presidential election, it was difficult to try to inflate the figures.

    Also, it was realised that some of the developmental projects of the Federal Government might have boosted the APC’s chances in the last elections. For instance, the rehabilitation of the Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja federal highway, which is the main artery of the state, thereby reducing travel time and stressful trips, might not have gone unnoticed. These infrastructural developments are the things the ordinary people saw and many might not have been vocal enough to voice them out, but they registered in the minds of a lot of people. Such supporters might not have been vocal enough, because of the antagonism that goes with being a supporter of President Buhari in Cross River state, but only waited for the polls to make their statements.

    In fact, there are those who believe the APC could still have had a better outing than it did in the last elections, if not for a couple of factors. The first is leadership tussle in the party in the state, which is believed to a great extent, hampered the chances of the party’s candidates. Again making it worse was the abrupt announcement by INEC on the eve of the presidential and National Assembly elections that the APC would have no candidates in the elections in the state. This led APC’s candidates in the elections to frantically try to reach out to their people that they were still in the race, but again there were those who believed that if not for the strange announcement by INEC, that APC could even have recorded far above the number of votes the candidates of the party had.

    Going into the March 9 governorship election, with votes now counting, the Ben Ayade-led PDP government will have an uphill task to remain in Government House, Calabar.

     

    Edo:

     

    It was not a defeat the APC in Edo State had expected during the conduct of the 2019 presidential, and National Assembly elections. The results showed the PDP reinforcing its dominance of Edo politics, just as it did in 2015.

    In 2015, the PDP won the presidential election with a margin of defeat of 78,400 by scoring 286,869 votes. It won in 15 LGAs, while the APC won only in three LGAs. The APC had 208,469 votes. For the National Assembly election in 2015, the PDP won two senatorial and five House of Representatives’ seats, while the APC had one seat in the Senate and four seats in the House of Representatives.

    During the February 23, presidential election, the reverse appeared to be the case, even though the PDP won the election with a margin of 7,849 votes. The PDP won in eight LGAs and had a total 275,691 votes, while the APC won in ten LGAs and had a total of 267,842 votes.

     

    Akwa Ibom:

     

    In the 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections, the influence of the PDP, which was the government at the centre, indicated how each of the political parties fared in the elections of that year in Akwa Ibom State.

    The towering influence of the then governor of the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who was an ardent and strong pillar of the PDP and Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum, also affected the results of 2015 elections.

    Fourteen political parties participated in the 2015 presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom State.

    Of these political parties, only the APC, which emerged from an alliance of political parties, was the  contender against the PDP.

    The total number of accredited voters in Akwa Ibom in 2015 was 1,074,070, of 1,644,481 registered voters.

    The result of the presidential election showed that the PDP polled 953,304 votes, while APC came a distant second with 58,411 votes.

    The margin of victory for the PDP over the APC in the February 23, 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections in Akwa Ibom  narrowed significantly, giving a clear indication that the APC is stronger now than it was in 2015.

    PDP’s candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, polled 397,831 votes, while President Muhammadu Buhari of APC got 175, 429 votes.

     

    Bayelsa:

     

    In 2015, Jonathan won Bayelsa, his home state by landslide. He had 361, 209 votes in the state. Buhari only scored 5,194 votes. Statistics from INEC showed that of 605, 637 registered voters in the state then, 384,789 persons voted in the election.

    But field monitoring gave an indication that the figures were merely allocated to the parties in favour of the PDP.  Without strict implementation of the card reader in the election, it was easy for PDP leaders to depend on the use of incidence forms to allocate votes in various polling units.

    Observation showed that the PDP leadership, enabled by its state government, circumvented all the electoral procedure to deliver bogus figures to their kinsman and President. The breakdown of the results in the eight local government areas gave no chance to APC to even score up to the 25 per cent of the constitutionally required votes.

    For instance, in Ekeremor Local Government Area, while Jonathan scored 61,507 votes; Buhari trailed from behind with 374 votes. In Yenagoa, Jonathan, 45, 429, Buhari, 462; Ogbia, Jonathan, 50,754, Buhari, 214; Sagbama, Jonathan, 41,221, Buhari, 361; Brass, Jonathan, 31,312, Buhari, 1,968 and Southern Ijaw, Jonathan, 78,898, Buhari, 856.

    In the National Assembly election conducted simultaneously with the Presidential poll, the APC candidates only contested for formality. While their PDP candidates posted bogus figures and were declared winners of their districts and constituencies, the APC contestants were left to lick their wounds.

    But the scenario changed dramatically in the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections. The strict electoral procedure adopted by INEC to conduct the polls made it a Herculean task for any party including the party at the centre to allocate results. Each vote was largely contested for and mostly persons who came out to cast their ballots were counted by the commission.

    Though there were controversies in some local government areas such as Nembe and Southern Ijaw following suspicion by the state government and the PDP that APC members manipulated the results in those areas, the general performance showed a drop in the number of voters when compared to 2015 elections.

    Despite an increase in the state voter population from 605,637 to 923,182, the total number of votes cast in the just-concluded presidential election was still less than the votes recorded in 2015. In 2015, 384,789 voted in the election. But in 2019, 335,859 cast their votes.

    Also the margin of difference between Buhari of the APC and the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was a remarkable departure from the 2015 election. According to INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Zana Akpagbo, Atiku polled 197, 933 votes to beat Buhari of APC who scored 118, 821 votes. It is a difference of 79,851 votes compared to 356,015 difference between votes between Jonathan and Buhari in 2015.

    A breakdown of local government performance also showed that unlike in 2015 when Buhari won no council, he was declared the winner of two councils in the state in 2019. For instance he won in Southern Ijaw scoring 47, 627 votes to beat Atiku, who got 41627. In Nembe, Buhari scored 31, 811 votes to win Atiku, who got 7,167.

    Other local government results did not show the kind of wide margins between the two parties in 2015. In Kolokuma-Opokuma, Atiku got 16,040 while Buhari scored 3,938. Others are Yenagoa, Atiku, 37,676, Buhari, 7,483; Brass, Atiku, 15,936, Buhari, 15,936; Sagbama, Atiku, 30,122, Buhari, 7,949; Ekeremor, Atiku, 21,856, Buhari, 21,857 and Ogbia, Atiku, 27,506, Buhari, 5003.

    There was also a close contest between the National Assembly candidates of the PDP and those of the APC. Beyond all expectations, INEC confirmed that candidates of the APC won two seats in the House of Representative and one in the Senate.

    But the Bayelsa State government and the PDP believed that the former Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, INEC and security agencies manipulated the results to favour the APC especially in Nembe and Southern Ijaw.

    The governor rejected the votes saying they were allotted to Buhari, and other candidates of the APC in Nembe Bassambiri and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas òf the state.

    Dickson said what happened in Nembe and Southern Ijaw was a blatant violation of the rights of the people to elect their leaders and representatives.

    Dickson said further that a former Governor òf the State, Chief Timipre Sylva, an oil surveillance Contractor, David Lion, and officers and men of the Nigerian Army commandeered materials to non-designated locations and held electoral officers hostage to allocate fake figures at gunpoint.

    He said that it was the height of absurdity for INEC whose staff had admitted and spoken out against the abduction and violence in the area to brandish a purported result for the seven wards of Nembe Bassambiri and Constituency 4 of Southern Ijaw.

    According to the governor, Army Officers and men under their command compelled collation officers at gun point to concoct figures from non-existent votes that were never captured by card readers.

    But the APC in Bayelsa condemned efforts of Dickson to discredit results of elections in some wards in Southern Ijaw and Nembe local government areas of the state.

    The party dismissed as groundless Dickson’s statement against votes garnered in the state by President Muhammadu Buhari and APC candidates.

    The party in a statement signed by its Publicity Secrtary, Doifie Buokoribo, also rejected an attempt by Dickson to equate himself with Bayelsa by claiming the state condemned votes polled by APC.

    Buokoribo stressed that Dickson was not Bayelsa, and that the state was neither Dickson nor a political party.

    He advised Dickson to explore the democratic option of seeking redress in the courts if he had any grievances about the poll results, instead of plunging into the realm of reckless and enflaming statements.

  • Atiku made no demand on Buhari – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed media reports that its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, made some demands on President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Describing the reports as fabrication being peddled by the Buhari presidency and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the PDP urged the public to disregard such reports, describing them as absolute falsehood and outright lies.

    A statement yesterday by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said Atiku Abubakar had not, and will never make or accept any condition from President Buhari regarding the February 23 presidential election, which the PDP insisted Atiku won. The statement said, “The Buhari presidency and the APC know that their electoral robbery cannot stand before any noble justices and are now attempting to use all sorts of blackmail and shenanigans to derail the quest by Nigerians to reclaim the stolen mandate at the tribunal.

    “However, let it be known to President Buhari and the APC that Atiku Abubakar and the PDP are standing shoulder to shoulder with Nigerians in this collective determination to take back the stolen mandate and we are not ready for any form of negotiation with anybody on this matter. Our party and candidate remain committed to the huge sacrifices made by Nigerians in ensuring our collective victory as delivered at the polling units across the country; we are mindful of the pains that Nigerians are passing through since the subversion of their will at the polls; we are sensitive to the expectations that millions of compatriots place on our shoulders in this struggle and we will never let Nigerians down.

    “We have all the authentic results from all the polling units as well as forensic evidence of manipulations by the APC and INEC. We will bare them all at the tribunal and the court will give justice to Nigerians. On that note, the PDP states unequivocally that nothing will change its resolve to pursue this despicable electoral fraud, unknown in our political history, to its end. We shall devote every energy necessary to reclaim our mandate and have Atiku Abubakar declared president, in line with the will of the people as delivered at the polling units on February 23, 2019.”

  • Moghalu commiserates with victims of electoral violence

    The Presidential Candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has expressed sadness over the loss of lives from violence during the Feb. 23, Presidential and National Assembly Election.

    Moghalu, who symphatised with the families of all who lost their lives as a result of the violence, tasked President Muhammadu Buhari on inclusive governance.

    “I am very saddened by the loss of lives to various acts of violence during the Feb. 23, presidential election and elections into the National Assembly.

    “My heartfelt condolences go to the families that lost loved ones and I pray that those injured will recover soonest,” Moghalu said in a statement on Friday.

    The candidate also decried the alleged operational failures of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of the elections, the massive vote buying and vote rigging through various methods and the violence that characterised the polls across the country.

    According to him, these have brought the credibility of the election to question.

    He alleged that the supporters of both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were complicit in the malpractices.

    Moghalu said: “The number of votes tallied for my candidacy by the INEC did not represent anything close to the electoral strength of that candidacy.

    “These false numbers were the result of brazen theft of our votes and the suppression of our voters.

    “It appears, however, that the strong determination of many of our citizens to reject the APC at the ballot box far outweighed the desire for real change in our polity and governance in 2019.

    “Though we did not win this election in terms of overall numbers of votes, the presidential election result is an indication of where our society is at present; 2019 is the last gasp of the old political order that has robbed Nigeria of real development.

    “I trust and believe that this situation will change by 2023.”

    According to him, as Nigeria moves forward as a country, fundamental reform of its electoral system is needed if its democracy is to have any real meaning.

    “Elections as they are organised and executed today in Nigeria are a travesty.

    “We need to reform the systems of registration, voting and collation of votes by making the processes more transparent through better use of technology.

    “As of today, these processes are tedious, inefficient and prone to risks and performance failures such as those we have experienced.

    “We also must stiffen punishment and enforce accountability for electoral offences. Nigerians in Diaspora have continued to remit billions of dollars home every year for this.

    “Our fellow citizens living abroad must be able to vote from overseas as from 2023. Immediate action to achieve this goal is required once the present elections are over.”

    He said that President Muhammadu Buhari, who INEC announced as the winner of the 2019 presidential election, owed Nigerians an inclusive, competent government that could heal the land and take millions of Nigerians out of crushing poverty.

    According to him, this calls for a very different approach to create jobs and improve actual economic productivity and living standards.

    “A new, philosophically and conceptually grounded approach to economic management that goes beyond mere economic growth statistics to real economic development and structural transformation remains an urgent priority for our country.

    “Our struggle for a better and well governed society, a productive and inclusive economy that breaks the backbone of poverty, and to restore Nigeria’s leadership role in the world continues.

    “I on my part will remain engaged in that struggle over the long haul,’’ Moghalu added. (NAN)

  • No deal with Peace Committee to halt legal action, says PDP

    The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dismissed media reports indicating that the National Peace Committee (NPC) has prevailed on the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar not to challenge the outcome of the February 23 presidential election in court.

    Briefing newsmen in Abuja on Friday, the national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said although Atiku and some chieftains of the party met with the leaders of the NPC on Thursday, no conditions were given regarding the decision of the PDP to seek redress in court.

    According to the party chair, the PDP briefed the NPC leaders on the party’s grievances in the just concluded presidential election and also its decision to seek legal redress.

    He further stated that the NPC team comprising Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd); Bishop Mathew Kukah and Cardinal John Onayeikan did not persuade the aggrieved PDP leaders to drop the court option.

    Secondus said: “When they came, they met with us and they requested us to please state our grievances. There was no condition.

    “Initially, we were not to talk with them because a decision had been taken to go to court. But because of the personalities involved, we said ok, let’s just talk.

    “There were no conditions and there was no request of any condition. We made it clear that unless the injustices are addressed, there is no room for peace.

    “It is only when you address the injustice that you can now sit down for peace.

    “So, whatever interpretation that was done by anybody, let it be clear to everybody that we did not give conditions, they did not request for conditions.

    “It was like, look, state what really happened in the election and we told them how the military took over the election and conducted the election in favour of the APC with INEC collusion”.

    The party chair deplored what he described as voter suppression in states considered the strongholds of the PDP, alleging that soldiers were deployed to harass, intimidate and arrest voters and party supporters in such states,

    He listed Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, and Cross Rivers as worst affected states in the alleged military siege, adding the threat by the Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State that foreign observers would go back to their country in body bags was extended to Nigerians on during the election.

    Secondus said: “As at the last count, over 50 Nigerians have lost their lives last Saturday, most of them from the South South region where a division of the army with their commander were turned on the people on the Election Day.

    “For a regime that appears comfortable with blood, the deaths they recorded during their campaigns were not enough, as after their contrived ballot box victory and stolen mandate, they still hired some hoodlums and sent them to the streets to go and kill themselves.

    “You can see that the nation has been in sorrowful mood for our democracy that was dragged down last Saturday, four years after the world stood up for Nigeria for not only conducting a flawless election, in addition to having a seamless transition to an opposition party.

    “But we all are seeing the direct beneficiary of that rare democratic disposition, General Muhammadu Buhari, using the military to rob Nigerians of their right to choose leaders of their choice”.

    The party chair queried the higher voter turnout in insurgency-ravaged states like Borno and Yobe above the 2015 figures, whereas states like Rivers and others in the South-south zone recorded lower voter turnout in the last election than they did in 2015.

    Read also: Ndidi, Iheanacho to get Kolo Toure touch at Leicester

    He said: “The clear effect of militarising the election, particularly in the South South and South East in addition to the killing of innocent electorate, was the obvious suppression of voters who were either scared out or chased away.

    “Even by INEC own record, voter turnout in last Saturday’s election fell to about 36 percent from 44 percent that it was in 2015.

    “The military were dragged into the election to suppress and scare away voters and facilitate rigging.

    “That is how you hear ridiculously that war torn Borno and Yobe states recorded higher percentage in voter turnout than some states in the South South geo- political zone.

    “Shamelessly, they have again started mobilizing to use the same military to forcefully take over for APC two PDP states in the South South and one state in the South East.”

  • Buhari beats Atiku in Kano State

    All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari has defeated his immediate opponent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in Kano State with over 1.073,175m.votes

    The Collation Officer for the Presidential election in Kano, Prof. Magaji Garba, who is the vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Gusau, Zamfara State announced this at the early hours of Tuesday, following the collation of the result from across 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.

    According to him, APC Presidential candidate has scored 1.464,768m, beating the PDP candidate who warned 391,593 votes.

    He added that, “the total registered voters in the state stood 5.391,581m, while total accredited Voters is 2,006,410m.

    Garba explained that the total votes cast during the election on Saturday is 1,964,751m.and the total Valid box stood at 1.891,134m, while the total rejected votes is 73,617.

  • Atiku wins in Akwa Ibom

    •Akpabio loses re-election bid  •APC alleges vote buying, manipulation

    People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubabar has won 28 of the 30 local government areas in Akwa Ibom State.

    President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took two councils, namely Mbo and Essien Udim, where Senator Godswill Akpabio hails from.

    Elections in Udung Uko were cancelled due to alleged violence and irregularities arising from snatching of ballot boxes, result sheets and card readers.

    This is as a strong indication emerged last night that Akpabio had finally lost his re-election bid to the Senate to the PDP candidate, Chris Ekpenyong.

    Results from eight of the 10 local government areas that make up Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District favoured the PDP candidate. Akpabio won in Ikot Ekpene with a slight margin.

    The INEC finally rejected the result from Essien Udim, Akpabio’s local government after it confirmed through the card reader that votes earlier allocated to Senator Akpabio were much more than the total number of accredited voters in the council area.

    On the elections, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, said the elections in the state was generally peaceful despite pockets of violence as shown in the destruction of INEC materials and attacks on the commission’s staff by thugs working for politicians.

    “Those who are threatening our staff should stop it. The intimidation is getting too much. I am here to preside over the affairs of elections in this state. For the first time, to ensure credibility of the elections. Materials were deployed and they were destroyed and at a great loss to our country. The time to snatch ballot boxes and write results is over. If you can win, you will win,” he said.

    But, the APC kicked against the result of the presidential election, calling for its cancellation over alleged electoral fraud.

    Read also: No force can upturn results, say election observers

    Addressing a news conference after the collation of the results, presidential agent for APC, Bishop Samuel Akpan, alleged that the polls was fraught with irregularities and completely short of democratic norms.

    State Party Agent Umana Umana said: “The position of our party is well-documented. The whole process of collation is not satisfactory to our party. Vote buying was experienced all over the state. We hope that the umpire will take note of the grievances in our petition. We are talking about the integrity of the process. We are saying that the umpire to be seen to be fair to all concerned.

    Similarly, Akpan also alleged vote buying and manipulation by PDP in connivance with INEC.

    “Long before now, our party has been agitating that we do not have confident in the process. In addition, the outcome has proved now that there has been compromise arising from money that had changed hands. Akwa Ibom is an APC State and the people that made the PDP are now in the APC.

    “The results we are getting do not reflect the votes that we have. This is not the type of democracy that we want. We urge the Federal Government to rise and protect our democracy,” he said.

  • Buhari leads in Kaduna, wins 8 of 13 LGAs

    …10 LGAs to go, collation resumes 9am
    All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari is in early lead in the Saturday presidential election in Kaduna State.
    Buhari has defeated the People’s Democratic Party (PDP’s) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in eight of the 13 local governments so far released.
    According to the results collated at the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Kaduna State headquarters by Professor Bello B. Shehu, Buhari has so far won in Kubau, Makarfi, Kudan, Sabon Gari, Ikara, Kauru, Giwa and Soba local government areas.
    Meanwhile, the PDP candidate has emerged victorious in Zango Kataf, Kaura, Kajuru, Kagarko and Jaba local government areas.
    While, Atiku defeated the APC in the home local government of the incumbent Deputy Governor, Architect Barnabas Yusuf Bala, Buhari equally floored both Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi and the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Hon. Mohammed Isa Ashiru Kudan in their Kudan local government area.
    As at the adjournment of the collation exercise around 2:10am, results from the last 10 local government areas were being awaited.

    Read also: APC criticises PDP for asking INEC to declare Atiku winner of presidential election

    The exercise is expected to resume by 9:00am today.
    The results of the presidential election local government by local government are as follow;
    1. KUBAU LG
    APC: 67,140
    PDP: 13,296
    2. MAKARFI LG
    APC: 36,625
    PDP: 14,494
    3. IKARA LG
    APC: 44,021
    PDP: 14,464
    4. KAURA LG
    APC: 6,907
    PDP: 33,647
    5. JABA LG
    APC: 6,400
    PDP: 22,758
    6. KUDAN
    APC: 30,577
    PDP: 11,697
    7. ZANGO KATAF
    APC: 10,411
    PDP: 62,622
    8. SABON GARI
    APC: 58,467
    PDP: 22,644
    9. SOBA
    APC: 51,548
    PDP: 10,656
    10. KAURU
    APC: 33,578
    PDP: 27,041
    11. KAGARKO
    APC: 16,663
    PDP: 21,605
    12. KAJURU
    APC: 7,888
    PDP: 31,446
    13. GIWA
    APC: 45,574
    PDP: 9,838

  • PDP insists on results from polling units

    …alleges plots to alter election results

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has insisted on the official release of results already delivered at the various polling units for its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    A statement last night by the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, cautioned that Nigerians will not accept any figures except what was declared and collated from the polling units.

    The PDP further alleged that the Buhari Presidency has been mounting pressure on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and dispatching officials to change results in Rivers, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Kogi, Bauchi, Cross River, Borno, Yobe and Edo states among others, in a frenzy to allocate fictitious figures for President Buhari.

    “Pathetically, the Buhari Presidency is also threatening the South-East state governors to change results and carve a 25% for Mr. President, a scheme that has already failed.

    “In Bauchi state, we are aware of the plots to move thump-printed ballot papers and fabricated results from Bauchi to Dass Local Government Area to upturn PDP’s victory in the results already delivered and announced at the polling units in the area.

    “This is why the electoral officials have been delaying moving the results for final collation and announcement. If this plot fails, the APC plans to void the results for Dass.

    “In spite of all these, our party assures Nigerians that the hope for a new government led by Atiku Abubakar, is already manifest.

    “Our agents and indeed, Nigerians, already have the results as delivered at the polling units and are not ready to accept anything to the contrary. President Buhari and the APC should therefore quietly come to terms with the fact that they have been defeated.

    “The PDP therefore cautions INEC to respect the laws and electoral guidelines by upholding and declaring results from the polling units as expressed by Nigerians on Saturday”.

  • EFCC detains Atiku’s man over $4m cash haul

    Businessman Giwa-Osagie quizzed, DSS withdraws invitation to five INEC officials

    Detectives are holding a businessman who is said to be an associate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.

    Mr. Uyi Giwa-Osagie is being suspected of allegedly laundering about $4million, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) believes to be “suspicious election cash”.

    Uyi’s detention followed an intelligence report on a suspicious transaction by a Bureau De Change operator.

    The Nation had exclusively reported on Monday how the PDP reportedly allocated $3million each for “logistics” to its 36 state branches and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Most Bureau De Change operators and banks have, however, refused the “pressure” to convert the hard currency to Naira.

    An EFCC source said: “A BDC operator was intercepted for shipping $2million from Abuja to Lagos for suspected money laundering.

    “Upon interception by our detectives, the BDC operator admitted that Uyi Giwa-Osagie actually paid the Naira equivalent of $4million into his account in exchange for hard currency.

    “We invited Uyi for interrogation on Monday and Tuesday. Our detectives have also conducted a search of his home. Some useful documents were retrieved. Investigation is, however, still in progress.”

    “Apart from documents relating to posh properties at home and abroad, a copy of the EFCC Investigation Report on Atiku’s relationship with a jailed U.S. lawmaker, Williams Jefferson, was retrieved from Uyi.

    “ An analysis of the account indicated that it yielded over $30million deposits mostly from a firm with a link with the PDP candidate,” the source said, pleading not to be named because of the “sensitivity” of the matter.

    He added: “Obviously, there were remittances from the account of a multi-national company linked with the PDP candidate.”

    Responding to a question, the source said: “We closed in on Uyi on Monday. We have decided to detain him pending the conclusion of investigation. “

    Another source described Uyi as “a reputable lawyer to Atiku”. “It is not out of place if Atiku’s dossiers are found with him.

    “ You also need to appreciate his  background and antecedents, he is from a very wealthy heritage. By the time he opens up, the EFCC will know that he is not an overnight associate of Atiku.”

    Also yesterday, the Department of State Services (DSS) withdrew its invitation to some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials – the National Commissioner in charge of Operations, Prof. Okey Ibeanu and four top directors.

    The others are: The Director of ICT, Chidi Nwafor; the Director of Procurement, Ken Ukeagu; the Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Wole Osaze Uzzi and the Assistant Director, ICT, Bimbo Oladunjoye.

    The five officers were invited through the DSS office in INEC for interrogation over alleged compromise of the operations of the electoral body.

    INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu downplayed yesterday at a briefing the invitation of the five officers, which was communicated to them on Monday by a director of the DSS.

    Although the invitation was later withdrawn, the development created tension in the commission.

    A source said: “The DSS has been working on some clues on how INEC’s Smart Card Readers and sensitive materials got into the hands of some suspects in some states.

    “The officers were only invited to shed light on the operational modalities of INEC and why the sabotage occurred. We called on them as part of the comprehensive investigation into some allegations raised by the INEC chairman last Saturday.

    “Following a twist in the DSS investigation, the invitation was stepped down. I won’t tell you it was dropped because some INEC officers have been implicated in some deals.”

    But a source within INEC said: “The five officers were officially communicated through the DSS office at the close of work on Monday. Early on Tuesday morning, a reminder was sent to all the invitees.

    “The invitation generated tension in INEC because those summoned hail mostly from the Southeast, Southsouth and Southwest. Some of them have nothing to do with logistics. We did not know why the DSS left out the director of Logistics and the deputy from the North.

    “Some staff also saw it as an attempt to intimidate INEC and its officers. The ethnic tension made the INEC management to wield influence to prevail on the DSS to have a rethink on the invitation because it can disrupt plans for Saturday elections.

    “It was based on the grave security implications that the invitation of the five top officers was stepped down.”

  • Atiku confirmed PDP is working with INEC, says Oshiomhole

    TO All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has vindicated the ruling party’s claim that the opposition was working with some officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to compromise the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Oshiomhole, who addressed reporters last night, said it had become clearer that the only mission of the PDP candidate “is to cause confusion in the electoral system so that he will become President even it means presiding over graves”.

    According to him, only those who want to deploy thugs to undermine the elections will oppose and find fault with the statement of the President aimed at discouraging thuggery during the election.

    Oshiomhole said the attention of the international community at the moment is that elections across the world should be violent-free and assured that the forthcoming elections will be conducted in a free and fair atmosphere.

    He said: “It is only those who believe in thuggery that will find fault with the President’s directive. Is there anyone that would want to vote for thuggery? Is there any thug that is not armed? You cannot snatch ballot box without the aid of firearms. So, when the international community is talking about violence-free election, they are saying the election should be free of thuggery.

    “You can see that the PDP is not at home with that because they imported thuggery, institutionalised it and have always fallen back on it as instrument of rigging and to dominate the electorates. So, we debunk any attempt by Atiku to change the essence of the President’s statement.

    “I believe the President spoke the kind of the average Nigerian who wants to go and vote and come home in peace without fear of being attacked. You know that thuggery is synonymous with violence and the world is unanimous that violence should be removed from election.

    Atiku’s rejection exposes PDP for what they are. Their plan is to deploy thugs so that the election will be impossible or reduce voter turnout.

    “To say that the APC imported card reader is laughable and that the card readers have been deployed to the Southsouth and Southeast. The implication of this is, assuming it is true without conceding, it means that Atiku is working hand in hand with the ICT unit in INEC to know the kind of machines that are deployed to where.

    “Recognising that INEC is Independent, we are not able to know the kind of card readers INEC is deploying or where they were imported from. But if Atiku has all of these details, it can only mean that he is working hand in hand with people within INEC to know where machines are imported from and the fact that card readers can be programmed otherwise.

    “We are not like a stammers who look for a fight because they cannot win an argument. We believe that the electorates are ready to vote for us and we want those votes to take place in a free and fair atmosphere.

    “I think that Nigerians should be united when it comes to the issue of a free and fair election. Our candidate is saddled with the responsibility for peace and security of Nigerians. He has the duty to ensure that the live of the Nigerian electorate is protected as well as those of the observers. That is the responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief.”

    Read also: EFCC detains Atiku’s man over $4m cash haul

    “So, if Atiku finds fault in this, if anybody is pro thuggery, we are against thuggery and we are against violence. The International community should properly decode Atiku’s statement sling the president to withdraw his threat not against the electorates, but against would be thugs or merchants of violence.

    “As far as I am concern, Atiku knows that he can’t win. In 2003 elections, he lost his base in Adamawa. He is on record to have procured a senatorial seat for Prof. Jibrin Aminu. If he wants to go to court, I will meet him there and I will produce the first INEC documented report that announced the winners of those senatorial seats.”

    The APC chair predicted that the PDP candidate will lose in his Adamawa home state.

    “We are ready for the elections and by the grace of God, Nigerians will vote for us and Atiku will remain a permanent presidential candidate which Nigerians never had,” Oshiomhole said.

    Reacting to the reports credited to Atiku and the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, Oshiomhole said: “This afternoon, we monitored the statement by the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar and the PDP national chairman, Uche Secondus in which they tried to distort the message which of the President who reassured Nigerians that he has given appropriate directive to security agents to ensure that Saturday election is free and fair.

    “From the response of the PDP candidate, it is clear that they have already conceded defeat. First, he claimed that he has two stronghold which he identified as Southsouth and Southeast. That is not true because I come from the Southsouth and we are not voting Atiku. We have since dismantled the PDP machine in Edo state and Edo is the heart beat of the Nation.

    “Even If you take the statement in its face value, if Atiku concedes that out of six geopolitical zones, he has support not in his own zone, but Southsouth and Southeast, the voting population in these two zones are not enough to deliver the presidency to any candidate in Nigeria.”

    According to him, every peace-loving Nigerian and those who wish Nigeria are yearning for fair and violent-free elections.

    He said: “What the President said and we are proud that he has courage to say it that he has asked security agents to create an enabling environment for Nigerians to out and vote without fear that thugs will attack them and that security agents are going to put thugs in check. No peace loving Nigerian can find fault with that,” Oshiomhole said.

    Recalling how thugs were used to rig elections when Atiku held the forte as vice president, the APC chair said: “I think it does expose PDP for what they are. Atiku as vice president to Obasanjo was there in 2003 when people were killed by thugs. In my election in 2007, three young men were shut down by PDP thugs at Oba Primary school. So, no responsible candidate will find fault with any pronouncement that tends to discourage thuggery in the coming elections.

    “For a man who is aspiring to preside over Nigeria to seek protection for thuggery is uncalled for. He has already said he will grant amnesty to looters. I don’t think Nigerians have any basis to doubt that Atiku’s mission is to set Nigeria on fire so that he can become President, even If he will preside over a graveyard.”