[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday continued its declaration of results of the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections conducted across the country on Saturday.But for the first time since 1999 that the nation embraced democracy, INEC declared governorship poll in six states inconclusive. The states affected are Kano, Sokoto, Benue, Bauchi, Adamawa and Plateau.

While INEC has stopped the announcement of results in Rivers State due to the violence that engulfed the state, the commission has also controversially halted the announcement of the governorship election in Kano State which shows the Peoples Democratic Party is leading.
Consequently, the PDP has accused the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, of allegedly playing the script of the ruling All Progressives Congress by declaring governorship elections in these states inconclusive.

It claimed that the commission carried out the action in states where it (the PDP) was in clear lead.

The former ruling party insisted that INEC had become overtly partisan, surrendered its independence to the APC and carried on as “a compromised umpire with obnoxious impunity, thereby sending signals of being heavily bribed by the APC to alter results for its candidates.”

INEC chair playing APC script over inconclusive elections – PDP

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, insisted that the party was in possession of intelligence reports that INEC was being remotely controlled by the Presidency.He said this was why the commission had refused to declare the full outcome of the governorship elections in some states.He said, “The PDP has full intelligence of how INEC is acting on instructions from the Buhari Presidency and the APC in orchestrating unwholesome situations and declaring already concluded governorship elections in Sokoto, Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau as well as other states as inconclusive, immediately it became obvious that the PDP was set to win.

“This also informs the foisting of unexplainable stoppage and delays in the announcement of already collated results in other states where the PDP is clearly leading the race, from the results so far declared at the polling units.“Our party has also been informed of how INEC is now seeking ways to use the situation to aid the APC to alter the results and announce the APC candidates as winners in the elections clearly led by the PDP just as it did in the 2018 Osun State governorship election.

“In some of the states like Rivers, the PDP has information of plots by the APC to leverage the declaration by INEC to unleash more violence on the state and push for isolated election where they can bring in more security forces to concentrate on forcefully taking over the state.
“Already, in Rivers State, INEC is under heavy pressure from the Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to redeploy and replace the state Resident Electoral Commissioner as well as the Administrative Secretary.

“This will be totally unacceptable, completely provocative and shall be firmly resisted by the people even if the totality of our nation’s security is deployed to Rivers State.”

Ologbondiyan said that results of all the state assembly elections in Rivers State had been declared and winners had emerged.

He cautioned Yakubu and the commission to perish the thought of altering any figures for the APC and to immediately announce the results in these states and others where he claimed the PDP candidates clearly won, going by the results already declared at the poling units, wards and local government collation centres.

He said that anything short of this would attract the “legitimate wrath of the people.”

Ologbondiyan also said that Nigerians were already aware that elections had been concluded in the affected states; results collated and declared at the polling units, wards and local government collation centres and all returning officers and “political parties conclusively have the figures.”He said, “Prof. Yakubu must have noted how his name is becoming synonymous with electoral manipulations, among Nigerians, and the fact that our citizens and international community hold him responsible for the rigging of the presidential and other elections for the APC.

“Today, majority of Nigerians and the global democratic institutions are questioning the state of our democracy and electoral processes, which have been under siege under the supervision of President Buhari and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.

“In the light of these INEC’s manipulative tendencies, the PDP therefore charges our leaders, teeming members and lovers of democracy in the affected states to immediately commence a march to INEC offices and use all legitimate means to protect our mandate as freely given by the people at the polling units across the nation.”

In spite of the PDP’s protest, INEC had while declaring the Plateau State governorship poll inconclusive on Monday, said a supplementary election would hold in nine LGAs and 20 polling units in the state.The Resident Electoral Commissioner in the State, Mr Halilu Pai, who spoke through the Head of Voter Education, Mr Osaretin Imahiyereobo, told The PUNCH in Jos on Monday that the state INEC had sent the report of the inconclusive election to the INEC headquarters in Abuja. He added that INEC headquarters would determine the date when the supplementary governorship poll would hold.

Our correspondents reported that during the governorship poll, the APC candidate, Simon Lalong, led with 583,255 votes in 11 local government areas, while the PDP candidate, Jeremiah Useni, got 538,326.
Given the 44,929 margin of lead and the total number of cancelled votes at 49,377, the Returning Officer in Plateau State, Prof. Richard Kimbir, who announced the results at the state INEC headquarters around 3am on Monday, stated that the election was inconclusive.

The total number of registered voters was put at 2,480,455, while the number of accredited voters was 1,147,025.The total number of valid votes was 1,138,987 with 16,691 rejected votes, resulting in 1,154,678 total votes cast.

Bauchi rerun: PDP says ‘we are ready’ as APC calls for probe

In Bauchi State, the Returning Officer, Prof. Mohammed Kyari, declared that the election in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of the state was inconclusive.

According to him, the PDP candidate, Senator Bala Mohammed, got 469,512 votes against his closest rival, the incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubabakar of the APC, who got 465,453 votes.He had said that the margin of lead between the the two candidates was 4,059 votes after cancelling the votes of Tafawa Balewa LGA which had 139,240 accredited voters.
Kyari added that the number of cancelled votes in the elections even without that of Tafawa Balewa LGA was 45,312 and therefore declared that based on Section 26 part 53 of the Electoral Act the governorship election in the state was inconclusive.

He also directed INEC to conduct a re-run election in the affected LGA within the next 21 days.

But speaking at a Press Conference at the NUJ Secretariat, Bauchi on Monday, the PDP Chairman, Hamza Akuyam, said the decision to declare the election inconclusive had confirmed the party’s earlier claims that the APC was planning to rig the election.

Akuyam, who was in company with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, the DG Campaign of the party, senators Abdul Ningi, Nazif Gamawa and Isa Misau and the PDP bigwigs in Bauchi State, called for the immediate redeployment of the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ibrahim Abdullahi, and the Commissioner of Police, Ali Janga.But the APC in Bauchi State on Monday called on security agencies to probe the allegation by the Returning Officer in Tafawa Balewa LGA, Mrs Dominion Anosike, that she declared the result under duress.

The party demanded that after the investigation “whosoever is found guilty should face the wrath of the law.”
The APC also accused the PDP of “unnecessarily crying foul” over the declaration of the governorship election as inconclusive.

While blaming the PDP for the crisis in Tafawa Balewa LGA which led to the cancellation of the results, the party also said the opposition was responsible for INEC decision.The APC chairman in the state, Alhaji Ahmed Nana, said, “The PDP is crying foul unnecessarily. The lady alleged that she was put under security threat and wrote the result under duress. I would like to call on the security agencies to probe it and whosoever is found guilty should face the wrath of the law.

“Which party was said to be winning the election? It was not the APC that forced the declaration of results under duress, but the PDP. If it was the APC that forced the Returning Officer in Tafawa Balewa to declare the result, then why would they make her give the higher votes to the PDP? Anybody doing that will do that for his party to win.

“So, you see, it is now obvious that it was the PDP that forced her to write the result that gave them victory in that area. The Collation Officer even said it there, nobody forced her to say that. In fact, we are the ones that are supposed to be saying that.”

On the rerun, the APC chairman expressed confidence that the ruling party would retain power in the state.When contacted by one of our correspondents, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Kassim Gaidam, said a date for the rerun would be communicated as soon as a decision on the date was taken.

Tambuwal threatens legal action over Sokoto gov poll stalemate

Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State has threatened to approach the court and challenge the inconclusiveness of the state governorship election last Saturday.Reacting to INEC’s decision to declare the election as inconclusive where he was leading at a press conference, Tambuwal alleged that the commission had yet to give reason for its decision.

Tambuwal, who was leading with a slim margin of 3,413 votes, also explained that, “going by Section 179, sub-section 2, of the Nigerian constitution as amended, there was no clause that gave room for inconclusiveness.“The returning officer up till now, has not told us why the re-run in each of the polling units. The Electoral Act is very clear on reasons for re-run or inconclusive poll.

“Where there is violence or malfunctioning card reader machine, what is expected is to record zero vote in such polling unit(s).”
He said, “If INEC did not do the needful, I will approach the court to test the viability of the commission’s technicality. Votes have been cast, we are clearly ahead with the highest number of votes in more than two-thirds areas of the state, therefore, INEC needs to come back and declare the result.

“The trend from Bauchi, Sokoto, Plateau and Adamawa states is worrisome. The PDP has won the election in Sokoto and INEC should do the needful.”

Tambuwal, however, remarked that challenging INEC decision in court did not mean the party would boycott the re-run.Supplementary poll to hold in 44 polling units in Adamawa

INEC Returning Officer in Adamawa State, Prof. Andrew Haruna, while declaring the results inconclusive around 3am on Monday, explained that a rerun was necessary because the number of votes cancelled was more than the victory margin recorded.

According to him, a total of 1,973,083 voters registered for the election while 894,481 voters were accredited for voting.

He said after the Saturday election, 40,988 votes were cancelled in 44 polling units across the state, which were more than the margin recorded between the winner and the runner-up.

The PDP candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, led the Saturday’s election with 32,476 votes after polling 367,471 ahead of the APC candidate, Jibrilla Bindow, who scored 334,995 votes. Bindow is seeking re-election.

In an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents, the state PDP Chairman, Tahir Shehu, described INEC’s decision as unfortunate.

He added, “It is however fortunate for us because there is no magic that will make the APC score above the lead we have established. The areas where elections were cancelled are PDP strongholds and we established this during the presidential election. We are leading with 32,476 votes and the total votes we are fighting for in the rerun are 40,998 votes. We are still highly hopeful of winning.”

In Madagali, rerun will take place in three polling units while in Michika, the exercise will take place in five polling units.

At Mubi North area of the state, rerun will also take place in three polling units while Hong, Song and Demsa have four polling units each where rerun will take place.

Other areas affected are Toungo with three polling units, Numan with six units and Lamurde, Guyuk with three polling units each.

With 11,016 votes, Michika has the highest number of votes to be contested while Numan has the second highest number with 5,014 votes.

Mubi North, which is one of the strongholds of the APC candidate, has 1,978 votes to be contested. In the result earlier declared, Bindow of the APC scored 31,794 votes in Mubi North to beat the PDP candidate who scored 16,667 while in Michika, the PDP candidate scored 24,504 against Bindow’s 13,224.

APC, PDP disagree over poll cancellation in Benue

INEC on Monday declared the Benue State governorship election held on Saturday inconclusive.

The Benue State Collation/Returning Officer, Prof. Sabastine Maimaiko, during the collation and announcement of the results in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, said the candidate of the PDP, Samuel Ortom, polled 410,576 votes while his closest rival, the APC candidate, Emmanuel Jime, scored 329,022 votes.

He stated that Ortom led Jime with 81,554 votes. He, however, said that total number of registered voters/areas where elections were not held or cancelled and properly documented on Form EC40G, was 121,019.

He clarified that the margin of lead (81,554 votes) was less than 121, 019 registered voters/areas where elections were not held or cancelled.

Maimaiko said, “Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, on the basis of the statistics just read out, I therefore declare this election inconclusive. INEC will conduct a supplementary election for this purpose.”

But the PDP agent, Alex Adum, opposed the declaration of the election inconclusive, saying the reason and statistics given by the Collation Officer were not appropriate by law.

He also enunciated some statistics to validate his assertion.

However, the APC state agent, Joe Abaegu, hailed the collation officer for declaring the election inconclusive, adding that his position was final.

Also the Benue State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Nentawe Goshwe, countered the statistics provided by Adum, insisting that the collation officer was right in his declaration of the election inconclusive.

Inconclusive poll: Anti-democratic forces at work, says Atiku

Meanwhile, the Presidential candidate of the PDP in the last elections, Atiku Abubakar, says anti-democratic forces are at work.

He, therefore, called on INEC to act in defence of democracy.

Atiku said this amid controversies in six states of the federation.

In a Twitter post, however, Atiku said, “Anti-democratic forces are at work. My counsel to INEC is as follows: Conclude on the side of democracy. Conclude on the side of the people. Conclude on the side of the constitution. Conclude on the side of Nigeria.”

APC wins Zamfara, Kaduna, Borno, PDP sweeps Delta, Cross River

Meanwhile, in the governorship poll results declared on Monday by INEC, the APC won in Zamfara, Kaduna and Borno states while the PDP clinched the Delta and Cross River states governorship polls.

In Zamfara, Muktar Idris of the APC secured 534,541 votes to defeat Bello Matawalle of the PDP, who scored 189,452 votes out of the 810,782 votes cast across the 14 LGAs in the state.

Announcing the result, the Returning Officer, Prof. Kabir Bala, said the state had 1,717,128 registered voters, of which 823,294 were accredited during the election.

Also, the APC candidate in Borno State, Prof. Babagana Zulum, swept aside 31 other contestants by scoring 1,175,440 votes to beat his closest opponent, Alhaji Mohammed Imam of the PDP, who garnered 66,115 votes.Declaring Zulum the governor-elect, Prof. Alhassan Mohammed Gali, who is the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Kasheri, Gombe State, and the returning officer of Borno Governorship Election, said 2,316, 218 were registered voters with 1,292,138 accredited to vote.

He said 1,266,967 were total valid votes, with 22,060 votes rejected out of 1,289,027 total votes cast.

Declaring Prof. Zulum the governor-elect of Borno State, Gali said the APC candidate had satisfied the requirements of scoring the highest number of votes.Also, the Governor of Kaduna State, who is also the candidate of the APC, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has been declared the winner.

The Vice-Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Mohammed Bello, who is the returning officer, said El-Rufai polled 1,045,427 to defeat his closest rival who is the PDP candidate, Isa Ashiru, who scored 814,168.But in Delta State the PDP candidate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, was declared winner by the Presiding Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Prof. Seth Accra Jaja, on Monday afternoon.

The PDP candidate won in 23 out of the 25 LGAs of the state to secure a second term in office.

From the LGA results announced by Jaja, Okowa polled a total of 925,274 votes to defeat his closest rival of the APC, Chief Great Ogboru, who polled 215,938 votes.

The incumbent governor defeated his APC counterpart by a margin of 708,336 votes.

Announcing the results, Jaja described the election as keenly contested with 2,831,205 registered voters, 1,188,784 accredited voters, and 1,1783,351 votes.

But the APC state agent, Prof. Festus Arunayi, rejected the results over what he described as over-voting and violence across the polling units.

Ogboru and his party, the APC, also rejected the results, adding that the exercise was a sham that did not reflect what transpired at the polling units.

The state APC Chairman, Prophet Jones Erue, described the results released by INEC as “cooked up,” alleging that there were widespread irregularities across the state.

Erue, therefore, called for the cancellation of the exercise.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he  Governor of Delta State and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has expressed optimism that he will emerge victorious in the governorship polls.

Okowa spoke in his Unit 3 Ward 2, Omi Primary School, Owa-Alero, Ika North-East local government area of Delta State after casting his vote alongside other members of his family around 8.40am.

The governor who wore white long sleeve shirt, white trouser, white fez cap and black shoes was accompanied to the voting centre by his wife, Dame Edith and his children who voted in different polling units.

He said,  “by the grace of God, I will emerge victorious; I have partnered with Deltans, I have worked with them, and by God’s grace, a lot of them will vote for me.

“The only thing we are doing is to ensure that those who planned to use thugs to disrupt the elections will be handled by the security agencies because, aside plans to disrupt the elections, it would be a no contest situation,” Governor Okowa who was beaming with confident smile said.

“So far, the electoral process is peaceful, and we pray to God that it remains peaceful; people are coming out in their large numbers to cast their votes, a lot of votes have been cast already despite the fact that it is still very early in the day; we hope that the voting process remains peaceful across the state.”

On his assessment of the elections, the governor said, “I believe the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has done well, everything appears to be working well, but, the day is just starting and of course, we are still perfecting our system but, the best thing is the effectiveness of the response to handle any challenge as they occur by the INEC officials.”

“INEC did well to deploy a lot of youth corpers at each polling unit, that has made the job easy as they assist themselves, we can see that there is a lot of assistance to each other,” Governor Okowa asserted, expressing hope that such would be replicated across the state”.

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has alleged that the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army has concluded plans to disrupt the March 9, 2019 Governorship and State Assembly elections in the state.

Governor Wike said there are plans to stir violence in some areas within Rivers. He said “The 6 Division has mapped out local government areas where they will initiate violence to ensure that elections are not conducted as they did during the Presidential and National Assembly elections”.

Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt, Governor Wike said: “They are plotting to cause a crisis, so that the Governorship and State Assembly will be cancelled.

“That is what the 6 Division is planning”.

He said despite the militarisation of the elections, there are areas that some political parties cannot win because they are the strongholds of the PDP.

“There are areas that are no go areas. You don’t kill people simply because you want to win. Look at how they shed innocent blood because they want to get 25percent or they want to satisfy the ego of one or two individuals “, he said.

Governor Wike said that the PDP in Rivers State is prepared for the elections . He said the party campaigned and interfaced with Rivers people.

“We have been prepared for these elections. There is no party that campaigned the way we did. Nobody is more prepared for the elections “, he said.

He added: “You cannot change the will of the people. It is difficult “.

Governor Wike believes that he has revived Rivers State through massive infrastructural projects, empowerment and economic development programmes

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he national leader of Pan Yoruba group, Afenifere, Senator Ayo Fasanmi and an elder statesman and historian, Prof Banji Akintoye, have urged Yoruba to brace up for the presidency in 2023.

Speaking in Ado Ekiti at a colloquium marking the 110th posthumous birthday of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Afenifere leader said Yoruba people must unite to ensure that the geopolitical zone produces the next president.

The 94-year old Fasanmi who made a request that Yoruba should support a candidate who shares the visions of Awolowo, publicly endorsed Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi as a possible candidate for the 2023 presidency, citing his decision on the fact that “Fayemi embodies the visions that Awolowo strived to actualise for Nigerians.”

Delivering a paper titled ‘New Engagements by Progressives,’ Prof. Akintoye said Ekiti people could become leaders in the African continent by “investing in the knowledge economy using our education advantage.”

Akintoye who recalled the huge investment of Awolowo in education, stated that “the progressive idea is the only way to make the people prosper,” adding that Fayemi has the right ideas which are similar to Awo’s.

While stating that the 2023 presidency is not just about pushing for a Yoruba man, the professor of History said it was high time Ekiti people rose up and took the lead because Nigeria needs the values of hard work, excellence, and integrity which Ekiti people are known for.

Akintoye equally called on Governor Fayemi to rise to the task ahead, stressing that Ekiti people must not let themselves to “be intimidated by what exists” but push for “what is right.

“Decent people of Ekiti should take the lead and help reposition the nation. I want to say that in 2023, we Ekiti want to aspire for what we have never aspired for. We want to produce the next president of Nigeria. We know that it takes the Ekiti character to rebuild Nigeria. Kayode (Fayemi) has the right ideas. He knows what to do in the management of our affairs. We must have the tenacity to push for what we think is right. We should not let ourselves be intimidated by what exists,” he said.

While speaking on Nigerian political leadership, Akintoye described Awolowo as a very “influential leader with “constructive ideas about how to move Nigeria along the path of progress, success, prosperity and even power.” Akintoye said Awolowo’s progressive idea focused on a Nigeria that would be orderly, stable and offer increasing economic and social opportunities for all its citizens.

“The economic and social details of progressivism are also well known. They include programmes such as free primary and secondary education for all, high quality medical service, free medical service to weaker categories of citizens, gainful employment for all, job skills programmes to qualify every person for employment, good quality transportation, communication, water supply, and electricity supply, integrated rural development to take the benefits of modern life and modern resources to farming and to rural communities,” he said.

In his remarks, Governor Fayemi said it was high time Nigerians raised the standard of development above that which was laid by Awolowo, adding that the former premier had been the yardstick for measuring the political success of political leaders in decades.

The governor said it was pathetic that the nation is endowed with human and natural resources but has not been able to take the lead in the past years, adding that it was time to do away with “arrested development.”

Fayemi, who also charged Ekiti leaders to rise up to the task ahead, stated that Ekiti should not play the second fiddle in the affairs of progressives in Nigeria.

“We have competence; we have human resources and everything that can help us survive as a nation. That was what Chief Awolowo represents today in Nigeria; we have not seen any statesman like Awolowo. That’s why any little thing we do, we make reference to him. He is the standard by which we judge development. It is time that we raised the standard now. We carry the burden of the successor generation and we must deliver to our people.

“This is the time to make concrete improvement in the lives of our people to banish poverty from our people. For long, we have not fought for what belongs to us because we are reticent, we don’t want to project ourselves, because we don’t want to be called noisemakers. Sometimes purposeful noise is strategic communication. Awo was not just a politician, he was a public intellectual. We must not forget this if we want a developmental democracy, the elite should drive and support programmes that aim at lifting the masses because that’s what Awo stood for. He was always on the side of the people. That is the duty we owe our people,” Fayemi said.

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ormer governor of Ogun State and Director General of Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign organisation, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has called on members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun state to vote for Prince Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during Saturday’s governorship election in the state.

In a statement he released on Thursday, Daniel said his directive was informed by the court decision that affirmed Senator Buruji Kashamu as the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun state.

Daniel, a two-term governor who was rooting for Ladi Adebutu, who enjoys the support of the national leadership of the party, said the court decision has forced him to support Dapo Abiodun.

“You would have noticed my studied silence in our local politics in recent times. I have busied myself with National politics having served the state for 8 years.

”I have also been very busy supporting the ambition of the son of our great Philantropist in Remoland to become the next governor of our dear state.

”You however would have become aware of the court decision yesterday which did not favour him.

”Going forward, I have directed all our structures statewide to cast all their votes on Saturday for Prince Dapo Abiodun, another bona fide Remo son despite current party differences.

”I therefore enjoin all to please go and cast your vote on Saturday for Dapo Abiodun in the overall interest of our people. With best regards,” he said.

Dapo Abiodun later led members of his campaign team to meet Daniel on Thursday’s evening, hours after the former governor endorsed him.