The candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Abba Kabir Yusuf, was yesterday declared the winner of the governorship election in Kano State.
There was a serious stalemate at the INEC headquarters in Kano as supporters of Yusuf, led by their leader, ex-governor Rabiu Kwankwaso kept vigil around the premises.
There was also palpable fear in the whole of Kano metropolis which necessitated the declaration of down to dusk curfew by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje ahead of the declaration of the results.
In the final results announced by the returning officer, Professor Ahmad Doko Ibrahim, Yusuf polled 1,019,602 while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nasir Yusuf Gawuna, polled 890,705 to come second.
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Total valid votes were put at 1,977,872, ejected votes, 27,092 and total votes cast 2,084.
Shortly after the result, there was thunderous celebration across the state despite the curfew with some hoodlums taking advantage of the curfew to loot shops in the metropolis.
For Kaduna State, the APC candidate, Senator Uba Sani was declared winner.
The INEC Collation Officer, Prof. Lawal Bilbis, who announced the results said the APC candidate polled 730,002 votes while his closest rival, Isah Ashiru Kudan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 719,196 votes.
Bilbis said Labour Party (LP) candidate, Jonathan Asake, polled 58,283 votes to come third while the NNPP candidate, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, came a distant fourth with 21,405 votes.
The number of rejected votes was 19,114.
The PDP candidate won in 13 LGAs of the state while Sani, the incumbent senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District of the state, won 10 LGAs.
It was equally a tensed situation in Kaduna throughout yesterday as supporters of both APC and PDP stormed the social media to claim victory.
In Benue, the APC candidate, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, was declared winner of the governorship election.
Results announced by INEC indicated that Alia scored the highest votes to beat his closest rival, PDP’s Engr. Titus Uba, who is the incumbent speaker of the State House of Assembly.
The returning officer for the election, Prof. Adamu Farouk Kuta, who is the Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Minna, announced that Alia polled a total of 473,933 votes to lead Uba who recorded 223,913 votes while Labour Party’s Heman Hembe trailed with 41,881 votes.
Our correspondent reports that results collated from all the 23 LGAs of the state indicated that APC’s Alia won majority of the votes in 17 LGAs with a margin of 251,020 votes.
Uba won in four LGAs while Hembe won one and the other parties did not win in any of the LGAs.
The results were announced, leaving out Kwande LGA where elections did not hold as a result of printing error discovered on the ballot sheets.
Earlier, Prof. Kuta explained that the setback could not affect the declaration of the entire results of the election as the margin of the winning party far exceeded the registered voters in Kwande LGA.
PDP’s Mutfwang wins in Plateau
The candidate of the PDP, Barr Caleb Mutfwang, has been declared governor-elect for Plateau State.
Announcing the final results at the state collation centre at INEC headquarters Jos, Prof. Idris Amali of Federal University Lafia said Muftwang got 525,299 votes to defeat the APC candidate, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, who got votes 481,370 votes, while Patrick Dakum of Labour Party came third with 60,310.
The final results were announced at the INEC headquarters in Jos, the state capital on Monday.
The announcement of the final result in Plateau also dragged on for hours as supporters of APC and PDP all claimed victory.
In Borno, Zulum re-elected
The incumbent governor of Borno State, Prof, Babagana Umara Zulum, has been declared winner of the gubernatorial election in the state.
The returning officer, Professor Jude Rabo, said Zulum polled 545,543 votes while the candidate of PDP, Mohammed Jajari, came second with 82,147 votes.
APC’s Bago wins Niger gov’ship election
In Niger, the candidate of APC, Umar Mohammed Bago, has won the governorship election.
Announcing the result in Minna on Monday, the state collation officer, Professor Clement Allawa, said Bago won in 20 of the 25 LGAs with a total of 469,896 votes.
He said the candidate of the PDP, Isah Liman Kantigi, who was the closest rival, won in five local government areas with 387,476 votes while that of NNPP, Yahaya Mohammed, came third with a total of 3,378 votes.
The only female candidate in the election, Khadijat Abdullahi, who contested on the platform of APGA polled 1,746 votes.
He said the total number of accredited voters was 899,488 and number of votes cast 889,956.
APC wins Nasarawa
The INEC has declared Governor Abdullahi Sule, the candidate of the APC, as the winner of the governorship election in Nasarawa State.
Ishaya Tanko, INEC State Collation and Returning Officer, officially announced the result on Monday in Lafia at the Nasarawa State Collation Centre.
The INEC returning officer said the APC candidate polled a total of 347,209 votes to defeat his closest opponent, David Ombugadu of PDP who got 283,016 votes.
Adamawa poll declared inconclusive
INEC yesterday declared the governorship election conducted in Adamawa State as inconclusive.
Speaking after collating results from all the 21 local government areas, the returning officer, Prof. Muhammad Lamin Mele, said the number of cancelled votes exceeded the difference between the two leading candidates.
He explained that the election was cancelled in 47 registration areas with 41,796 registered voters which is higher than the margin of 31,249 between PDP’s Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri who polled 421,524 and that of APC, Senator Aisha Binani, who scored 390,275, thereby declaring the election inconclusive.
There was palpable tension in Yola ahead of the declaration as many mainstream and social media platforms had given Binani a clean bill.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar addressed the press yesterday saying the alleged delay by INEC in declaring Fintiri as winner was needless.
He said they had it on good authority, and as evidenced in the results so far uploaded on INEC’s IReV, that the Adamawa governor was leading.
APC gets Ebonyi, C/River; PDP gets Rivers, Taraba, Delta
Also yesterday, INEC declared Francis Nwifuru of the APC winner of the 2023 governorship election in Ebonyi State.
Nwifuru, who is the speaker of the State House of Assembly, scored 199,131 votes to beat the candidate of the PDP, Ifeanyichukwuma Odii, who polled 80,191 votes and the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof, Bernard Odo, who had 52,189 votes.
The returning officer, Prof. Charles Igwe, announced the results at 2:30pm, 48 hours after a disagreement at the centre in Abakaliki.
Results from Ikwo, Ezza North and Ishielu LGAs generated a heated argument between the state agent of PDP, Mudi Erhinedu and that of APC, Austin Umahi; while the agent of APGA, Emmanuel Onwe, refused to sign the result.
Rivers
The PDP Governorship Candidate, Similanayi Fubara, has been declared the winner of the Rivers State governorship election.
Announcing the result in Port Harcourt at 11:30 pm, the State Returning Officer, Prof. Akpofure Rim-Rukeh, said Fubara scored 302,614 votes to emerge the winner of the election.
The APC governorship candidate, Pastor Tonye Cole came second with a total number of 95,274 votes, while the SDP governorship candidate, Senator Magnus Abe came third with 46,981 votes.
Taraba
Kefas Agbu, the candidate of the PDP was declared winner of the Taraba State governorship election at 12:20am today.
The returning officers, Professor Ahmed Mohammed Abdulazeez, declared Agbu winner of the poll.
APC’s Otu wins in Cross River
The candidate of the APC in Cross River State, Prince Bassey Otu, was declared winner of the governorship election by INEC.
The returning officer, Prof. Charles Teddy, said Otu won by amassing 258,619 votes to defeat his closest rival and PDP candidate in the election, Prof Sandy Onor, who polled 179,636 votes.
The candidate of Labour Party, Ogar Osim, got 5,957 votes to emerge third.
Teddy said there were a total of 1,766,466 registered voters but only 466,294 were accredited to vote with 460,856 valid votes.
APC won in 15 local government areas of the state while PDP won in three.
The late announcement was because the results of three local government areas – Akamkpa, Obanliku, and Boki – arrived in Calabar on Monday morning.
In Delta, the candidate of PDP, Sheriff Oborevwori, was declared the winner of the governorship election by INEC.
PDP won in 20 of the 25 LGAs in the state; while APC won in four and LP one.
The INEC Collation/Returning Officer for Delta Governorship Election, Prof Owunari Abraham Georgewill, declared Oborevworii as the winner with a total of 360,234 votes against Ovie Omo-Agege of the APC’s 240,229 votes, and LP’s Ken Pella’s 48,047.
PDP leads in Zamfara
The candidate of PDP in Zamfara State, Alhaji Dauda Lawal Dare, was leading in nine local government areas out of 14 declared so far by INEC.
They are Zurmi, Shinkafi, Bukkuyum, Anka, Gusau, Tsafe, Maru, Bungudu, and Gummi while Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle of APC won in Bakura and Talata Mafara.
As of press time, the collation of results from Kaura Namoda, Birnin Magaji and Maradun was ongoing.
‘We need to improve on our collation process’
Some non-government organisations said yesterday that there was urgent need for Nigeria to speed up its collation and announcement process in order to give credibility to elections.
They said it was not good for results to be delayed for over 48 hours, noting that gives room for mutual suspicion and tension.
Paul James, who is the Programme Manager, YIAGA Africa; Nichole Grossman, a visiting scholar at Centre of Democracy and Development (CDD) and Mboho Eno, a deputy director, accountability programme and Centre for Journalism Development and Innovation (CJID) spoke when they featured on Trust TV’s Daily Politics programme last night.
They collectively agreed that various stakeholders, including INEC officials and ad hoc staff, candidates and their supporters must work together to improve the process.
From Hope A. Emmanuel (Makurdi), Yusufu A. Idegu (Jos), Tunji Omirin (Maiduguri) Kabiru R. Anwar (Yola), Haruna Aliyu (Birnin Kebbi), Nabob Ogbonna (Abakaliki), Eyo Charles (Calabar), Meluwa Kelvin (Asaba), Victor Edozie (Port Harcourt), Shehu Umar (Gusau) & Magaji Isa Hunkuyi (Jalingo)
