The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won the governorship seats in Sokoto and Benue States after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) concluded supplementary polls in five states on Saturday. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won in Kano and Plateau States.
INEC held supplementary governorship election in the five states of Sokoto, Kano, Plateau, Bauchi and Benue on Saturday having declared the March 9 election in those states, as well as in Adamawa, inconclusive. Supplementarygovernorship election could not be held in Adamawa following an order of a state High Court sitting in Yola asking INEC not to conduct the exercise pending the determination of a counter affidavit filed by the electoral body challenging the statutory jurisdiction of the court to entertain a post-election matter.
Following the conclusion of collation of results in the five states on Sunday by INEC, Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the PDP won reelection by a narrow margin, polling a total of 512,002 votes to beat Ahmad Aliyu of the APC who garnered 511,660.
In Plateau State, the returning officer, Richard Anande Kimbir, declared incumbent governor and candidate of the APC, Simon Bako Lalong, winner of the 2019 governorship election after he polled 595,582 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Jeremiah Useni of the PDP, who polled a total of 546,813 votes.
The results of the March 9 election saw Lalong leading Useni with over 44,000 votes. Elections in 40 polling units across nine local government areas of the state were, however, cancelled. The total number of registered voters in the polling units where elections were cancelled amounted to 48,828 resulting in the declaration of the March 9 election as inconclusive. Results for the supplementary elections in the nine LGAs of the state saw Lalong polling 12,327 additional votes and Useni polling additional 8,487 votes.
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom of the PDP won a second term in office, having defeated his closest rival, Emmanuel Jime of the APC, with 434,473 votes against 345,155 votes.
In Bauchi State, Kyari Mohammed, the returning officer, announced that the PDP candidate, Bala Mohammed, polled a total of 6,376 while the APC candidate and incumbent governor, Muhammed Abubakar, polled 5,117 at Saturday’s supplementary election in the state.
The returning officer, however, said he was in no position to make a return because the case involving Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area is still in court.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had on March 19 stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from proceeding with the collation, conclusion and announcement of the result of the March 9 governorship election in the state.
In Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, incumbent governor and candidate of APC, secured a second term in office in what may perhaps pass as the most controversial election of the season. Ganduje won with a margin of more than 8,982 votes after the collation of figures for the supplementary elections held on March 23, 2019.
Before the elections were declared inconclusive after the March 9 governorship election, PDP was leading with 1,014,474 votes, while APC had secured 987,819 votes. But at the end of collation of results of Saturday’s supplementary elections held in 28 LGAs, PDP polled a total of 10,239 votes against 45,876 votes secured by APC. The total figures for APC stood at 1,033,695 votes against 1,024,713 votes secured by PDP, meaning Ganduje won with a margin of 8,982 votes.
Before the final declaration of results by INEC, Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, spokesperson to PDP gubernatorial candidate in the state, Abba Kabir Yusuf, had in a statement alleged “a gang-up against democracy” by APC, INEC and the security agencies “who connived attempting to orchestrate broad daylight robbery of the people’s mandate”.
“We want to categorically state that any desperate attempt by the already compromised INEC officials to declare Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as the winner of this rerun will plunge Kano into an unprecedented political crisis. The attempt would be resisted,” he had said, calling on all relevant stakeholders to prevail on INEC to declare Yusuf as the winner of the election.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room on Sunday expressed concern over the conduct of security personnel in the March 23 supplementary elections in some states of the federation.
The group, which deployed observers for the supplementary governorship elections in five states of Bauchi, Kano, Benue, Plateau and Sokoto, condemned what it called “voter intimidation and insecurity” in some states where the exercise held.
“Early reports received from the collation process in Gama Ward in Nasarawa Local Government Area of Kano State showed that observers were denied access to the collation centre contrary to INEC Regulations and Guidelines. By Paragraph 48 of the Guidelines, accredited domestic and foreign observers shall be allowed access to collation centres,” Clement Nwankwo, convener of Situation Room, said at a press conference in Abuja.
Nwankwo said while there were reports of widespread vote-buying in Kano and Bauchi States, Sokoto and Plateau States recorded under-aged voting. He called for the cancellation of results in Gama Ward of Kano State following widespread incidents of violence, thuggery as well as abuse of the electoral process.
“Some of the flaws observed are recurrent in Nigeria’s elections. As a country, we need to condemn these acts of voter intimidation and insecurity that have reoccurred in the supplementary elections even leading to the shooting of a returning officer. Safety of election day workers, INEC staff and ad-hoc staff, returning officers and observers is not guaranteed and portends great danger for future elections in Nigeria. Actions of political parties and their supporters continue to undermine the confidence in our electoral process as well as the rights of citizens to participate fully in elections and cast their votes without fear,” he said.
Nwankwo also expressed shock at the inaction of security personnel in Beli and Gama Wards in Rogo and Nasarawa LGAs of Kano State, respectively, despite widespread political thuggery and intimidation of voters. He wondered why the exercise witnessed violence and abuse of electoral process despite the deployment of senior police officers.
“In the previous elections, the State Commissioner of Police took charge without senior level officers. It is therefore ironic and curious that this level of violence and political thuggery would occur with this quantum of senior Police Officers deployed. Situation Room has always advocated against redeployment of Commissioners of Police ahead of elections,” he stated.
