- Oborevwori, Otu, Bago, Nwifuru, Uba Sani join governorship club
- Tension mounts in Abia, Enugu
- INEC declares Adamawa, Kebbi polls inconclusive
The recently concluded presidential, national assembly, governorship and house of assembly elections have revealed that some godfathers maintained their grip in their areas of control while many others were humiliated.
Presidential and National Assembly elections were held on February 25, while state elections were held on March 18, 2023.
As more governors emerged on Monday following the declaration of the outcome of their elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, a review by The Point indicated that some political godfathers were defeated in the 2023 general elections.
In Delta State, the Independent National electoral Commission declared the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Sheriff Oborevwori, as the winner of Saturday’s gubernatorial election.
The State Returning Officer, Georgewill Owuneri Abraham, who made the declaration at the INEC headquarters in Asaba, said Sheriff Oborevwori polled 360,234 votes.
According to him, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Ovie Omo-Agege, scored 240,229 votes and the Labour Party’s candidate, Ken Pela got 48,047 votes.
Also, the APC governorship candidate in Cross River State, Bassey Otu, was declared the winner.
The INEC Returning Officer, Charles Teddy, who declared him, confirmed that Otu polled a total of 258,619 votes while the PDP candidate, Sandy Onor polled 179,636 votes.
He said the Labour Party candidate, Ogar Osim, got 5,957 votes.
According to him, out of the total registered voters of 1,766,466 only 466, 294 were accredited to vote. At the end of the day, 460, 856 votes were duly cast.
The PDP struggled to win only three local government areas of the state while APC won 15.
The late announcement of the results was due to the late arrival of results from Akamkpa, Obanliku and Boki local government areas of the state.
In Niger State, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Umar Mohammed Bago, won the governorship election.
Announcing the result in Minna on Monday, the state collation officer, Clement Allawa, said Bago won in 20 of the 25 Local Government Areas and polled a total of 469,896.
“I, Professor Clement Allawa, hereby certify that I am the Returning Officer for the 2023 governorship election that was contested on March 18, 2023.
“I declare that Umar Mohammed Bago of the APC having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner of the 2023 governorship election in Niger State.”
He stated that the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, who was the closest rival of the APC candidate, Isah Liman Kantigi, won in five local government areas with 387, 476 votes.
He also announced that the candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Yahaya Mohammed, came third with a total of 3, 378 votes while the only female candidate in the election Khadijat Abdulahi, who contested under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance polled 1, 746 votes.
He added that the total number of accredited voters was 899, 488 while he gave the number of votes cast as 889, 956.
In the North Eastern State of Bauchi, the Governor, Bala Mohammed defeated former Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, to retain his seat.
The PDP candidate polled 525,280 to trounce his closest rival and APC candidate, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who polled 432,272.
INEC Returning Officer, Abdulkareem Mohammed declared the result on Monday morning.
TENSION IN ENUGU, ABIA
In Enugu and Abia States, tension was mounting on Monday night as the results were temporarily suspended.
INEC, in a statement on its Twitter page, said the Commission met on Monday and reviewed the conduct of the Governorship and State Assembly elections held nationwide on Saturday, March 18, 2023.
The electoral umpire said the decision to suspend further collation of the governorship election results in some parts of Abia and Enugu States was because reports from the state called for reviews.
It, therefore, appealed to the understanding and patience of voters, parties and candidates in the affected states.
“It will be recalled that our office in Obingwa Local Government Area was invaded by thugs yesterday, Sunday 19th March 2023 and our officials held hostage in relation to the collation of results from the Local Government Area.
“Similarly, reports from Enugu State call for a review of the results of the governorship election from the two outstanding Local Government Areas of Nsukka and Nkanu East.
“Consequently, the Commission, hereby, suspends the collation of results in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State and the two outstanding Local Government Areas of Enugu State which are yet to be collated.
“A review will be undertaken immediately before the process is concluded,” it announced.
FINTIRI, BINANI WAIT AS INEC DECLARES ELECTION INCONCLUSIVE
Meanwhile, INEC on Monday evening declared the March 18 governorship election in Adamawa State inconclusive.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Aishatu Dahiru, famously known as Binani, scored 390, 275 while the incumbent, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, the People’s Democratic Party candidate, polled 421,524.
However, the INEC state collation officer, Muhammadu Mele of the University of Maiduguri declared the election inconclusive due to the margin of votes.
He said, “Elections were not held in 47 wards, affecting 69 polling units. So, this gives us a margin of 31,249. The total number of PVCs collected in places where elections were not held amounted to 37,016.”
Mele said “based on these findings and analysis as stated in the electoral laws, where the margin between two candidates is lesser than the total number of collected PVCs in areas where elections were not held, the election is declared inconclusive.
