The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tambuwal

  • Tribunal affirms Tambuwal’s election victory

    Tribunal affirms Tambuwal’s election victory

    The Election Petition Tribunal in Sokoto state on Wednesday, October 25, affirmed Aminu Tambuwal as the winner of the Sokoto South Senatorial election.

    Justice Denis Echesi led a three-man tribunal panel in its unanimous ruling dismissed the petition of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its candidate, Abdullahi Danbaba Danbuwa.

    The Tribunal said the petitioners, APC, and its candidate failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt and awarded a fine of N200,000 to be paid to each of the respondents by the petitioners.

    Speaking shortly after the tribunal verdict, Suleiman Usman SAN, Counsel to Tambuwal, said the tribunal gave a lengthy decision in which all issues that were canvassed and ventilated were examined, abreast and evaluated.

    Read Also: Subsidy removal: Ondo moves to crash food prices

    He said: “At the end of the day, the tribunal found the evidence of the petitioners as unreliable, having been contradicted and most of which was hearsay including the documents tendered.

    “The tribunal found the petition unproven and confirmed and affirmed the election of Sen. Tambuwal as duly elected Senator in the National Assembly.”

    Chris Ndeoyiro, Counsel to the petitioners, said they would wait for the copy of the tribunal judgement to review its content and take the next line of action.

    He said: “The judgement itself is quite ominous over the same way the tribunal dismissed the petition.

    “However, there are quite some areas where we are not satisfied with the judgement read in the book of the tribunal.

    “But I cannot say any other thing. The tribunal will make available the copy of the judgement latest tomorrow, so when we look into it and review it, we take the next line of action.”

  • Tambuwal hails GTBank’s bike initiative for pupils

    ONE hundred and twenty secondary school pupils in four communities in Sokoto State will no longer have to travel long distances on foot to school, courtesy of GTBank.

    The bank, through its CARES pilot empowerment scheme, donated the bicycles, helmets and books to deserving pupils in Takatuku, Ummaruma,Tambuwal and Silame.

    The gesture is aimed at ensuring no pupil misses school or drops out because of distance.

    Flagging off the distribution of 30 of the bicycles at Government Demonstration Secondary School (GDSS), Takatuku in Bodinga Local Government Area, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, urged corporate organisations to support education as no government could meet the sector’s needs alone.

    “We are grateful to GTBank’s unequalled initiative as a foremost corporate organisation for driving such a wonderful concept for education standards. Not just for the volume but the motive and impact on development of education in the state,” he said.

    The beneficiaries were selected from the communities based on distance and records of late coming to the school.

    The governor advised parents and guardians of the beneficiaries to  guide them on how best to use the  opportunity given by the bank.

    Representative of the Managing Director and Divisional Head, Northwest, GTBank, Mr Ahmed Liman, said the bank was committed to the development of humanity, especially in areas of education, infrastructure, and poverty reduction.

    “We want to build a future where no child is absent or drops out of school due to the barrier of distance. The scheme is in stages, from Enugu to Taraba and from Sokoto to Ondo and across Nigeria.

    “It is necessary for us to build a world where education is accessible and distance no longer stands as a barrier to its attainment,” he said.

    Also, Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Alhaji Bello Guiwa, acknowledged the positive efforts of the bank to ensure educational advancement in the state.

    Principal of the school, Bello Tsoho thanked the bank for the laudable initiative.

    “We have no fewer than 30 male and female students from the school as beneficiaries. We are sincerely grateful to GTBank for guaranteeing the future of our children’s education through this wonderful support,” he said.

  • Banditry: We’ll not concede any community to attackers, says Tambuwal

    Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has urged security agencies to effectively reinforce against bandits attacks in parts of the state, vowing not to concede any community to the attackers.

    He particularly mentioned Isa, Sabon Birni, Kebbe and Gudu local government areas, where banditry attacks have been alarming in recent times.

    “We shall reinforce security within our power in those areas such that residents would be adequately protected,” the governor said.

    Tambuwal, who made spoke in Sokoto after a special emergency security meeting with heads of security agencies, including National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) expressed concern on the ravaging attacks on innocent villagers by bandits in those areas.

    “It is sad and disturbing on the rising security problems, which have characterised the peaceful nature of the state due to activities of banditry in Isa, Sabon Birni, Gudu and Kebbe, which has led to the loss of life of the District Head of Balle, Gudu Local Government Area.

    “This informed our decision to hold a special emergency security meeting to review the entire security situation in the state, assess and make efforts to stamp out all heinous bandits activities around the state, especially in the border community axis,” he said.

    The governor, who just returned from performing the lesser hajj, said: “The state government in collaboration with all security agencies and patriotic people of the state will do everything humanly possible to tame the trend of banditry and other disturbing crimes claiming the lives of the people.

    “We must all be vigilant and rise against the dastardly activities. If you think because you are not bordering Zamfara State, where the activities of bandits grossly thrive, it’s a mistake as it affects us all as neighbouring states. We need to strategically liaise with security agencies to reverse.

    “The state government is ready to sacrifice by giving all the necessary support to ensure measures are taken to restore security, confidence and peace in the state,” he stated.

    In the same vein, Tambuwal reminded people of the state that the presidential ban on the use of motorcycles in areas where banditry activities were perpetrated remained.

    “Whoever is arrested violating the directive would have himself to blame. Therefore, I am calling on parents and motorcycle users to abide by the directive by ensuring total compliance,” Tambuwal said.

    The governor appealed to those in border communities, who had fled to the neighbouring Niger Republic as a result of banditry attacks, to please return home.

    He assured them of their security and safety of property.

    “I will personally take a trip to Niger Republic and talk to them to return home”,” he said.

  • Sokoto: APC warns Tambuwal, PDP against attacks on supporters

    Sequel to what it described as untoward act of aggression, repression and intimidation by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) hoodlums against its supporters in parts of the state, the Sokoto state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday challenged Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his party to clear the air if they are not the sponsors of the dastardly act.

    APC added; “Anything in the contrary will only go to further confirm that the government is fully behind these dastardly actions and aiding and abetting them.”

    APC further stressed that the PDP administration in Sokoto state owe the peace loving people of the state explanations as to the arbitrary physical assault on civil servants and replacements by PDP hoodlums.

    “Any silence would also confirm our apprehension and due concerns thus APC would be compelled to enforce the rights of its supporters.”

    Addressing an emergency press conference in Sokoto, the state Chairman of APC, Sadik Isah Achida who condemned and lamented over the sad development said the APC in the state remain perplexed and baffled on the nefarious acts meted on its teeming supporters and other electorates who love, cherish and respect the sound and noble ideals of the party.

    “We will not fold our arms and allow such flagrant and dastardly attacks, acts of aggression and intimidation. We will not, even for a second, hesitate in allowing our supporters to use any available means to lawfully defend themselves and enforce their fundamental human rights.

    “Nobody should flagrantly trample on these inalienable rights of our supporters”, Achida vowed.

    In the same vein he explained that the constitution has enshrined some undeniable and defendable rights to any law abiding, bonafide citizen of country. All Nigerians have equal rights and freedom of movement, right to live, right to practice one’s religion, meaningful socio- economic transactions, right to belong to any political party and array of other enforceable rights among others enjoyable by all Nigerians.

    The party chairman further pointed out that despite the PDP peace credentials that filled the airwaves , hoodlums keep parading themselves, caning and flogging people suspected and perceived to be APC supporters, claiming they were cleansing them for integration into the society.

    “It is apt and desirable for the PDP to either confirm its complicity in these atrocities or deny as well bring the obnoxious activities to a halt and take necessary steps to apprehend the perpetrators and charge them to court.”

    According to Achida who raised among other critical questions “is the PDP government in Sokoto aware or not that people is being exorbitantly and arbitrarily levied before they are allowed to conduct commercial activities in our markets in towns and villages across the state? also noted that the people of Sokoto state have equal rights to enjoy all services by the three tiers of government, right to choose any political party and they have entrusted their mandate to the APC gubernatorial candidate but a day light robbery by PDP Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal stole the golden mandate which we see as temporary as it would soon be retrieved,” Achida insisted.

    “We are strongly calling on the state government and PDP to urgently call the perpetrators of these heinous attacks to order and doing otherwise is an imminent invitation to anarchy, which would not do anybody any good. A stitch in time saves nine,” Achida cautioned.

  • Ortom, Lalong, Ganduje, Tambuwal win elections

    GOVERNORS Samuel Ortom (Benue), Simon Lalong (Plateau), Umar Ganduje (Kano) and Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) have retained their seats after the collation of Saturday’s supplementary polls.

    But their challengers – Emmanuel Jime (Benue), Jeremiah Useni (Plateau), Aliyu Sokoto (Sokoto) and Abba Yusuf (Kano), have rejected the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the close of the second ballot yesterday.

    They plan to seek judicial redress.

    Ortom of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 434,473 to defeat his All Progressives Congress (APC) challenger Jime, who scored 345,155; incumbent Plateau helmsman and APC candidate Lalong beat his PDP challenger Useni and Tambuwal of the PDP scored 512, 002 to beat APC’s Sokoto, who polled 511,660.

    The INEC had declared elections inconclusive in six states as there were no clear winners on the first ballot on March 9.

    The states are: Adamawa, Benue, Bauchi, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto. The commission fixed March 23 for makeup polls but a court barred the electoral umpire from going ahead in Adamawa and in Bauchi’s Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area.

    An Abuja Federal Court will today rule on INEC’s application to vacate an ex parte order barring it from conducting supplementary poll in Tafawa Belewa Council Area.

    Also tomorrow in Adamawa, a High Court will rule in an objection suit filed INEC against order obtained by Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD) governorship candidate Rev. Eric Theman, challenging the exclusion of his name of the ballot paper.

    Tambuwal, was returned after a keen contest with a lead margin of 342 votes.

    In the earlier results before the makeup poll, Tambuwal had 489,558 votes, leading with 3,413 as against APC’s Sokoto’s 486,145.

    Declaring the results in Sokoto yesterday at the Sultan Muhammadu Maccido Institute for Quranic and General Studies, venue of the collation, the Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the Jigawa State University, Dutse, Prof Fatima Batulli Mukhtar, said the APC got 25,515 and the PDP scored 22, 444 from the 22 local government areas where the makeup was conducted.

    According to Mukhtar, 50, 332 of the 95,022 registered voters were accredited. Those whose votes were valid were 48,309 and 1,580 were rejected.

    Merging the final results, the Returning Officer said the  PDP scored 512,000; APC returned 511,660 votes with a total registered voters of 1,887,767 and 1,083,413 accredited for the exercise.

    Prof Mukhtar also gave the valid votes as 1,036,336 with 31,662 as rejected votes while 1,067,990  represented total votes cast.

    He said: “That Aminu Waziri Tambuwal having satisfied the electoral requirements and returned the highest votes is hereby declared winner of the Sokoto state governorship election.”

    In a swift reaction to the declaration, APC agent and campaign Director-General, Alhaji Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, objected to the presentation of the results from Kebbe Local Government Area on two issues – malfunctioning Smart Card Reader and non-conduct of the exercise in some polling units. He urged INEC to look into his observations.

    Maigari said: “We strongly object the result from Kebbe and call on the electoral umpire to do the needful.”

    The electoral body noted the observations and complaints raised by the APC, saying that it will be in its record for possible attention.

    PDP supporters and well-wishers took to the streets to celebrate the victory.

    BENUE

    After days of intense suspense, emotional and psychological torture among the Benue populace, INEC yesterday returned Ortom as winner of the supplementary governorship poll.

    The election was declared inconclusive because the number of votes cancelled in areas where elections were disrupted was more than the margin of lead by Ortom after the March 9 governorship election.

    State Collation Officer Prof. Sebastine Maimako, Vice Chancellor, University of Jos, announced Ortom as winner having satisfied the requirements stipulated in the Electoral Act and guidelines for the declaration of winner of the election.

    The final statistics as announced by Maimako showed that 858,947 of the 2,471,894 registered voters were accredited for the election.

    The valid votes were 830,954; rejected votes (15,268) and the valid votes were 846,222.

    PLATEAU

    The INEC declared Lalong as winner of the election.

    The governor was declared the winner by the Returning Officer, Prof Richard Anande Kimbir, Vice Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State.

    Announcing the final results, Prof Kimbir said, Simon Lalong of the APC polled 595, 582 votes to beat Useni of the PDP, who scored 546, 813.

    “I hereby declare Simon Lalong of APC returned as governor of Plateau State, having polled the highest numbers of votes in the state’s governorship election,” the returning officer said.

    Results of the supplementary election held in nine local government areas, including Langtang South, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Bokkos, Jos North, Kanam, Mangu,  shendam and Pankshin, showed that Lalong scored 12,327 new votes. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Jeremiah Useni, earned 8,487.

    The result of the supplementary was, therefore, added to that of the main election before it was announced.

    BAUCHI

    In Bauchi State, the PDP candidate Senator Bala was leading incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the APC in the supplementary governorship election conducted in 36 Polling Units (PUs), covering 29 Registration Areas (Wards) in 15 local government areas.

    The makeup poll did not hold in the Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, owing to a court order.

    Mohammed garnered 6376 votes against Abubakar’s 5117 votes on Saturday. He was leading the incumbent with 1259 between both parties.

    The result was announced in Bauchi  yesterday by the Returning Officer, Prof. Mohammed Kyari, Vice Chancellor of the Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola.

    At the close of the ballot on March 9, Mohammed had 469,512 votes. Abubakar had 465,453. The 4059 lead margin prompted INEC to declare the poll inconclusive after a Federal High Court in Abuja halted the collation and announcement of results for the Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area.

    Abubakar got a court injunction restraining INEC from continuing with the collation and announcement of election results. Judgment will be delivered today.

    The total votes scored so far  by Mohammed in the 19 out of the 20 council areas has increased to 475,888. Abubakar’s stands at 470, 570 votes.  The difference is 5,318 votes.

    The PDP yesterday urged the governor to concede defeat and work together with the party for the progress of the state.

    Speaking in a telephone interview with The Nation, PDP Chairman, Hamza Koshe Akuyam said the “right thing for the governor to do is to surrender in the face of an imminent defeat”.

    Mohammed has expressed gratitude to the people for their support.

    He said: “We owe our victory to the people of Bauchi who have stood very firm on the threshold of freedom and liberty and have shown that they are the icons of democracy and liberty. Words alone cannot express my appreciation to them all.”

    The former FCT minister addressed a news conference at the Command Guest House in Bauchi immediately the results of the election were announced.

    KANO

    Incumbent Governor Umar Ganduje of the APC was last night declared winner of the makeup governorship election Kano State.

    Declaring the winner of the poll, Collation Officer Prof. Bello Shehu said that after merging the final results, the APC candidate polled 1,033,695, while his challenger Abba Yusuf of the PDP scored 1,024,713 votes.

    He said that 2,268,305 of the 5,426,989 registered were accredited. The valid votes cast stood at 2,199,535 and 50,861 were rejected.  Those who cast their ballot were 2,242,396.

    He added that the APC candidate defeated his opponent with 8,982 votes.

    According to Shehu, the winner was declared after the collation of results from all the 28 affected Local government areas where the supplementary elections held on Saturday.

    He said: “That Abdullahi Umar Ganduje having satisfied the recuirment of the law, has scored the highest votes, is hereby declared winner and returned elected.”

    The collation officer said that the governorship election was earlier declared inconclusive following the high number of cancellation of votes as a result of violence and over voting.

    According to him, the total number of votes cancelled during March 9 election was more that the margin between the PDP candidate, who was leading with 26,000 votes and that of the APC candidate.

    Yusuf was earlier declared to have 1,014,474, against the APC candidate Gov Ganduje who garned 987,819 votes.

    The votes cancelled during the first ballot were 128,572 and the collation officer said the electoral act stipulates that such election must be declared inconclusive.

    The PDP agent, who is also the party chairman in the state, Suleiman Rabiu Bichi frowned at the conduct and rejected the entire supplementary election process, especially that of Gama in Nassarawa Local Government Area.

    His APC counterpart, Abdullahi Abbas, described the election as another landmark victory for the APC, adding that the era of politicking is over.

    “Our doors are wide open to embrace the PDP for a better governance”, the APC chair said.

  • Tambuwal promises all- inclusive government

    Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has assured of running an all inclusive government that would move the Sokoto state to purposeful heights with opportunities for all.

    Tambuwal who was shortly announced winner of governorship elections after defeating his opponent, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto by a slim margin in tough contested polls made the remark when a tumultuous crowd of jubilant supporters and well wishers thronged Government House in celebration of his victory.

    The governor who is reelected for the second term of another four years expressed appreciation to the entire people of the state especially PDP members for the feat he described as the will of God.

    ” I am thanking Allah for what we are witnessing today in our political journey that is blessed with victory. It is not my making nor anyones but something that has been destined by Allah. It is the collective efforts of Sokoto state people.”

    Read Also: Sokoto rerun: Atiku congratulates Tambuwal on re-election

    Tambuwal, however, appealed to the jubilant supporters mostly youths to conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner while expressing their joy for the victory.

    Meanwhile, Government House Sokoto continued to be a beehive of activities with all kinds of victory slogans, songs and music renting the air as major streets in the metropolis taken over by jubilant supporters in a motorcade with others on motorcycles singing” Sai Mutawalle” just as they lite fire on bunches of brooms declaring the end of APC in Sokoto.

  • Sokoto rerun: Atiku congratulates Tambuwal on re-election

    The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has congratulated the party’s governorship candidate in Sokoto election, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, after he was announced the winner of the re-run election by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) on Sunday.

    On his verified Twitter handle, Atiku also hailed the decision of the people of Sokoto.

    He said: “I congratulate His Excellency, Governor Aminu Tambuwal on his re-election and I assure the good people of Sokoto state that they have made the right decision that will see them continue on the path to peace, progress and prosperity. -AA #SokotoDecides”

  • Tambuwal wins Sokoto governorship election

    The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) has declared candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and incumbent Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal winner of the Sokoto state Governorship election.

    Tambuwal who polled 512, 002 got reelected after a kin contest with a lead margin of 342 votes to defeat his opponent and former deputy Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto who scored 511,660 emerged victorious following a rerun that was preceded by an inconclusive verdict in the March 9th elections.

    In the earlier results before the rerun, Tambuwal had a total votes of 489,558 with a margin of 3,413 against APC’s Aliyu Sokoto who polled 486,145.

    Declaring the results in Sokoto Sunday morning at the Sultan Muhammadu Maccido Institute for Quranic and General Studies, venue of the collation, the Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the Jigawa state University, Dutse, Professor Fatima Batulli Mukhtar who reeled out the results of the rerun said the APC got 25,515 while the opposition PDP scored 22, 444 from the 22 local governments where the exercise was conducted.

    According to Mukhtar, the total registered voters was 95,022 while those accredited were 50,332 with a total valid vote cast of 48,309 and rejected votes of 1,580 as 49,970 total vote cast were recorded in the supplementary polls.

    Merging the final results, the Returning Officer said PDP scored 512,000 while APC returned 511,660 votes with total registered voters of 1,887,767 and 1,083,413 accredited for the exercise across the state.

    Mukhtar also gave total valid votes as 1,036,336 with 31,662 as rejected votes while 1,067,990 represented total vote cast.

    ” That Aminu Waziri Tambuwal having satisfied the electoral requirements and returned the highest votes is hereby declared winner of the Sokoto state governorship election”, She announced amidst victory ovation by supporters and party agents of the PDP.

    In a swift reaction to the declaration , APC agent and campaign DG f the party, Alhaji Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi objected to the presentation of the result from Kebbe local government based on two fundamental issues including malfunctioning of the smart card reader and non conduct of the exercise in some polling units, urging INEC to look into that by doing the needful.

    ” We strongly object the result from Kebbe and call on the electoral umpire to do the needful.”

    In its dispassionate response, the electoral body noted the observations and complaints raised by the APC saying that it will be in its record for possible attention.

    Meanwhile, jubilation by PDP supporters and well wishers trailed the announcement of the results with motorcycle riders all over major streets of Sokoto demonstrating their joy as security was tight to proactively forestall attempt to break law and order by miscreants.

    However, the atmosphere in the caliphate remains calm as jubilation continued in all nook and crannies.

  • Rerun polls: Tambuwal, Aliyu, Ganduje,Yusuf, others locked in fierce battle

    After the March 9 governorship elections across the country, the polls in six states – Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto – were declared inconclusive. In this analysis, Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI who has been monitoring the situation writes on how the elections in five states will be fought and won. In Adamawa, the governorship rerun is on hold following a court order; the supplementary poll holds today only in two constituencies for state assembly.

    THE two major parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) resorted to a war of words when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the recent governorship elections in six states inconclusive and announced later that it would conduct supplementary polls in five of the affected states today. The governorship rerun will not hold today in Adamawa because of a court order barring INEC. It will, however, hold in two constituencies for the state assembly.

    Both conventional and social media are awash with last ditch efforts by the affected parties to get an upper hand in today’s supplementary elections. The two parties have been busy with fresh campaigns, establishing alliances and heading to the courts, to secure injunctions to stop the election.

    Curiously, it is first-term governors from either the APC or the PDP that are facing serious challenge in the states where elections are scheduled to hold. The following is how the supplementary election battle in each of the states would be fought and won.

    BAUCHI

    The back and forth movement over today’s supplementary election in some polling units Bauchi State was eventually settled on Thursday, with INEC saying it will go ahead with the exercise.

    The Bauchi State governorship election was declared inconclusive, follow ing irregularities in some polling units across 15 local government areas.

    The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said today’s supplementary elections are due to be held in 36 polling units in 15 local government areas. There are 22,759 registered voters in the affected 36 polling units where the supplementary elections will be taking place today.

    In the results released so far, the PDP candidate, Bala Mohammed, is leading with 4,059 votes; having scored 469,512 votes, against 465,453 votes polled by the incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the APC.

    Results from Tafawa Balewa local government are also in dispute, after thugs attacked the local government collation centre and disrupted the collation of results.

    INEC had decided to resume the collation of results in the council, but a court ruling has  suspended the exercise in the local government, which is regarded as a stronghold of the PDP. So, the local government is not part of today’s supplementary elections.

    INEC had indicated that it would resume the collation of results of the disputed Tafawa Balewa Local Government after considering a report submitted by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Bauchi. But it had to stay action on the matter, following the court injunction. The PDP insists that the initial cancellation of the result from the local government was illegal because the returning officer did not have the power to cancel the results already collated. The party said since there were no reports of violent clashes and disruptions of voting at the polling units,  which was the only ground for the cancellation of results, the returning officer acted outside his power by rejecting the result from the council. The PDP on Thursday threatened to boycott today’s supplementary elections on the grounds that INEC has allegedly compromised the process by acceding to the demands of the ruling APC.

    It had also appointed a new collation/returning officer to conclude the collation process, after Mrs Dominion Anosike withdrew over alleged threats to her life and her family. But the decision of the electoral body was rejected by the APC.

    PDP chairman, Hamza Akuyam, said no supplementary elections should take place until the full governorship election results collation, which ended with Tafawa Balewa local government, are announced.

    He said: “Doing otherwise will be synonymous with writing a reseat examination while the main examination has not been marked.” He accused the REC in Bauchi of deliberately keeping everybody waiting at the collation centre until around 2pm when he abruptly surfaced with a court injunction halting the collation exercise.

    With the current state of affairs, the PDP is in pole position to win the election. Apart from the fact that it is leading with 4,059 votes, the results from Tafawa Balewa Local Government, which is a stronghold of the party is still outstanding. At the end of the day, the opposition party is likely to carry the day.

    BENUE

    In Benue State, with the margin between Governor Samuel Ortom of the PDP and his APC counterpart, Emmanuel Jime, INEC is conducting today’s election to fulfill all righteousness, because it is obvious that PDP has an unassailable lead.

    The supplementary election will be conducted in almost all the 23 local government areas with about 121,091 votes at stake. After the March 9 election, the PDP was leading 81,554 votes. The party polled 420,576 votes, while its closest challenger, the APC, scored 329,022. INEC had to declare the election inconclusive, because cancelled votes -121,091 — were higher than the margin between the two top candidates.

    Governor Ortom is likely to emerge victorious at the end of today’s exercise, because it will be difficult to have a 100 per cent turnout and the APC getting enough votes to cancel the PDP’s lead. The two leading political parties have been wooing voters ahead of today’s election.

    The PDP had insisted that Ortom won the election and that he should be declared winner of the election.

    KANO

    Today’s supplementary election in Kano State is a battle between former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje. The election is likely to determine the political future of the two gladiators. The two politicians were allies from 1999 when they were elected as governor and deputy governor respectively, up to 2015 when the former nominated the latter to succeed him as the state governor.

    But, less than two years after the election that brought Ganduje to power, his relationship with his former boss became sour and this finally led to the defection of Kwankwaso to the PDP.

    Ganduje is seeking re-election to complete a second tenure as governor, while the ‘PDP candidate, Abba Kabir Yusuf, is contesting governorship for the first time.

    This is where the real contest is. Although the PDP occupies the high ground in this contest, its lead is not enough to guarantee that it would triumph at the end of the day. The final outcome would be determined by the electors who will come out to cast their ballot today.  In the results declared so far, the PDP flag bearer leads the incumbent governor with 26,000 votes, while the votes at stake in the 172 polling units where the supplementary election is taking place are 128,572.

    The March 9 governorship election was cancelled in the affected units due to disturbances over voting and nonusage of the Card Reader machines.

    The declaration of the election as inconclusive is in accordance with section 26 of the INEC Act, because the number of cancelled votes is beyond the margin between the candidate with the highest votes and the one that came second.

    In the results released so far, the PDP candidate scored 1,014,474, while the APC had 987,819 votes.

    There is no telling who will emerge victorious at the end of the day, given the number of registered voters in the area where results were cancelled.

    Nevertheless, the PDP candidate appears to have an upper hand, with the 26,000 votes advantage he enjoys going into today’s supplementary election.

    PLATEAU

    In the case of Plateau State, today’s supplementary election may turn out to be a mere formality. Incumbent Governor Simon Lalong, who is the APC candidate, is in pole position to secure his re-election.

    While the supplementary elections in Adamawa, Bauchi and Benue seem set to go PDP way, the APC has similarly secured acomfortable lead in Plateau State.

    Other things being equal, the incumbent, Simon Lalong, seems ready to clinch a second term in office.

    So far, in the declared election result, Lalong polled 583,255 votes, while Jeremiah Useni of the PDP secured 538,326 votes. With a margin 44,929 between the two contestants and 49,377 cancelled votes, today’s election is a mere formality.

    Observers say the supplementary election is needless and a mere waste of time and resources because it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Useni to come from far behind to level up the margin and beat Lalong. They say the odds weigh heavily to the point of impossibility against the PDP candidate, for him to defeat the APC candidate.

     

    SOKOTO

    In Sokoto, the PDP candidate, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, is clinging to a narrow lead ahead of his APC counterpart, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto. Tambuwal leads with 3,413 votes, having scored 489,558 votes, against his APC counterparts 486,090 votes.

    A winner could not be declared since the cancelled votes were more than the margin between the winner and the runner off. The number of registered voters in the area where results were cancelled are 75, 403, whereas Tambuwal is leading his APC counterpart with 3, 413 votes.

    Sokoto is another electoral contest that is too close to call. After defecting to the PDP to pursue his presidential ambition, Tambuwal lost some of his local support, especially that of the defacto godfather of Sokoto politics and a former governor of the state, Aliyu Wamakko.

    The APC draws most of its support from the influential Wamakko and many analysts did not give the PDP a chance until it managed to secure a respectable portion of the votes during the presidential election.

    The supplementary election may, however, offer the APC an opportunity to rouse itself from slumber and restrategise for a better outing.

  • Declare me winner in Sokoto, Tambuwal urges INEC

    GOVERNOR Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state and PDP governorship candidate in Sokoto state on Monday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to as a matter of fairness and justice do the needful by declaring the Peoples Democratic party winner of Saturday’s governorship polls in the state.

    According to him the decision by the Returning Officer of INEC, Professor Fatima Mukhtar to declare the exercise inconclusive was unconstitutional.

    Accordingly, the governor who cited Section 179(2) of the constitution of the Federal Republic stated that the provision clearly explained how to conduct governorship polls.

    ” Our party, the PDP has returned the highest number of votes and have won 2/3 of the local governments in the state and therefore, the decision of INEC is not founded in law. We wonder why INEC is coming with this technical reason to declare the exercise inconclusive”, he exclaimed.

    Tambuwal while addressing a press conference in Government House Sokoto said the decision would be put to test in the court” we have not been given substantial reasons for such decision.

    ” INEC should note that it has an image and integrity to protect as an agency and for its officials. It should not put its integrity to public questioning.

    ” Up till now, we have not been told why the cancellations of the exercise in 136 polling units across 22LGs. We know there are adverse factors that should be considered to warrant such decisions and not in all cases rerun should be conducted”, he stressed.

    Tambuwal who further expressed concern at the rampant rate of decisions on elections inconclusiveness by the electoral umpire citing cases of Osun among others which he said was not same with Sokoto, added” there is the need for INEC to revisit its decision. Professor Mahmoud Yakubu and his staff should know that they have the duty of holding to public trust given them by Nigerians.

    ” I believe we have won the elections in Sokoto state. We got the majority votes which confirms Sokoto peoples readiness and support for the party and its candidate.

    In the same vein, the governor while responding to questions from reporters if he would participate at the rerun if date was fixed while in court said” Our court action will not stop us from participating. We want to make sure the right thing is done based on constitutional provisions”, he explained.

    Tambuwal while thanking security agencies for their support to the elections process and INEC for its ability to do and to seen doing the right thing in defence of the country’s democratic process, insisted that” INEC and security agencies should do their best during the rerun.”

    ” I wish to also thank people of Sokoto state for the overwhelming majority votes to our party while we continue to have faith in God for placing His kindness on us as human beings.