The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday officially announced Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the Saturday, March 9 governorship election in Lagos State.
From the results declared across the 20 local government areas of the state, Sanwo-Olu won by a landslide, defeating his major challenger, Jimi Agbaje of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), with 739,445 against 206,141 votes.
Congratulating Sanwo-Olu, Babatunde Fashola, minister of works, power and housing and a former governor of Lagos State, also extended greetings to the PDP candidate.
“Well Done JK (referring to Jimi Agbaje), Congrats BOS (referring to Sanwo-Olu),” Fashola said in a tweet on Sunday.
Lagos Sate Governor Akinwunmi Ambode described Sanwo-Olu’s victory as a reward for vigorous campaign.
Kunle Koye, a chieftain of the PDP and senatorial candidate of the party for Lagos East, however, said the results did not reflect the will of Lagosians, alleging the ruling APC intimidated voters in PDP strongholds and also engaged in widespread vote buying.
INEC also suspended the governorship, state House of Assembly and supplementary elections in Rivers State “until further notice” following what the commission described as “widespread disruption of elections”. It set up a fact-finding committee to assess the situation and report back within 48 hours.
“These initial reports suggest that violence occurred in a substantial number of polling units and collation centres, staff have been taken hostage and materials including result sheets have either been seized or destroyed by unauthorised persons. In addition, safety of our staff appears to be in jeopardy all over the state and the commission is concerned about the credibility of the process,” Festus Okoye, INEC national commissioner and chairman, voter education and publicity, announced in statement on Sunday.
In Kano, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the PDP defeated Gov. Umar Ganduje of the APC with 1,011,145 votes against 963,087 votes.
In Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, APC governorship candidate, won 11 out of 15 LGAs declared by INEC, while results of the remaining five local governments were still being collated as at press time.
The results released at the governorship election collation centre at the INEC Headquarters in Abeokuta and presided over by the Ogun State Collation Officer and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI), Abel Idowu Olayinka, showed that Abiodun had polled 169,984 votes while Allied People’s Movement (APM) scored 130,504 votes, showing a margin of 39,480 votes. Consequently, the APM rejected the results of the polls, alleging gross manipulation of the poll results.
In Kwara State, APC’s Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq was declared winner of the governorship election. Abdulrazaq polled 331,546 votes to emerge as winner of the highly anticipated election following the ‘O To Ge’ movement in the state, while Abdulrazaq Atunwa, his counterpart and flagbearer of the PDP, polled 114,754 votes.
Collation in Imo State started late, with the PDP in the state protesting the delay, alleging a ploy by INEC to subvert the collective will of the Imo electorate.
“From the results so far collated from 18 local government areas, we can confirm with certainty that our governorship candidate, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, has won in 15 local governments. The local governments are as follows: Ideato North, Oru West, Obowo, Mbaitoli, Owerri West, Owerri North, Ikeduru, Owerri Munucipal, Ngor Okpala, Ahiazu Mbaise, Aboh Mbaise, Ezinihitte, Oguta and Orsu,” the party said in a statement signed by Ray Emeana, state secretary.
“Once again, we wish to alert the security agencies, INEC, election observers, Imolites and Nigerians in general of a deliberate delay of the announcement even when collation has been concluded in about 20 LGAs. There is no reason collation, announcement of results and declaration of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as the winner of the governorship election should tarry till this moment,” it said.
The PDP called on INEC to declare Ihedioha the winner of the governorship election without further delay to “douse the tension that has engulfed the entire state and also satisfy the already charged and jubilant Imo electorate and save the state from crises”.
INEC also declared Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of the PDP winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Enugu State, securing a second tenure. Ugwuanyi won in the 17 local government areas of the state, polling 449,935 votes against his closest rival, Ayogu Eze of the APC, who polled 10,423 votes.
In Abia, Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP also secured a second term, polling 261,127 to defeat his rivals.
In Ebonyi, Gov. David Umahi of PDP won the election in all the 13 local government areas of the state, defeating his closest challenger, Sonni Ogbuoji of the APC.
In Gombe State, INEC declared Inuwa Yahaya of the APC winner of the March 9 governorship election. Saminu Abdulrahaman, INEC returning officer in the state, who declared the result in Gombe on Sunday, said Yahaya scored 364,179 votes to defeat his closest rival, Usman Nafada of the PDP, who polled 222,868 votes.
Abdulrahman, who is also vice chancellor, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, said there were 1,394,386 registered voters, 627,457 accredited voters, 608,846 valid votes, 14,384 rejected votes and 623,230 total votes cast.
APC’s Abubakar Bello also won in 24 out of the 25 LGAs announced in Niger State, NAN reported.
In Delta State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of the PDP polled 433,702 votes to lead in Saturday’s governorship election in the state in the results announced as at 8pm on Sunday, while his closest rival, Great Ogboru of APC, scored 101,579 votes.
In Adamawa, the candidate of PDP, Umaru Fintiri, led the incumbent Gov. Muhammadu Bindow in 17 LGAs announced by INEC as at 7pm on Sunday, out of a total of 21 LGAs. Fintiri led with 308,356 votes, while Bindow had 288,443 votes.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room on Sunday called for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the 2019 general election, saying the election failed to meet the threshold set for credible polls in the country.
“The election has not met the criteria for credible polls. We need to know who gave the military order to interfere with the electoral process,” Clement Nwankwo, convener of Situation Room, said in a press conference in Abuja.
The probe, he said, should include activities and conduct of security agencies, particularly the military, state-sponsored violence, logistics inadequacies in some parts of the country, among others.
Collation in other states was still ongoing as at press time.
JOSHUA BASSEY, INIOBONG IWOK, Lagos, ADEOLA AJAKAIYE, Kano, OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, JAMES KWEN, Abuja, & RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
