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Incumbent governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has been declared as winner of last Saturday’s governorship election in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The returning officer, Professor Abdulkarim Sabo Muhammed, said the PDP candidate polled 525,280 votes to defeat the APC candidate, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar (retd), who scored 433,272 votes.
The candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Senator Halliru Jika, came third with 60,496 votes.
The Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the Delta state gubernatorial election, Sheriff Oborevwori, has been declared the winner of the statw governorship election.
According to the results announced by the INEC state Returning Officer, Prof Georgewill Owunari, Oborevwori polled a total of 360, 234 votes to defeat the All Progressives Congress APC Candidate Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who scored 240, 229, while the Labour Party candidate, Kennedy Pela came a distant third with 48047
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Caleb Mutfwang, has been declared the winner of the Plateau State governorship election.
The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, Prof Idris Amali declared Mutfwang as the winner having scored 525,299 votes to defeat his closest rival, Nantawe Yilwatda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 481,370 votes while Patrick Dakum of the Labour Party (LP) came a distant third with 60,310 votes.
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Francis Nwifuru has been declared as the winner of the March 18 poll in Ebonyi State, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Nwifuru, who is the Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly polled 199,131 votes to defeat his closest rival, Ifeanyi Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 80,191 votes. Ben Odo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) polled 52,189 votes.
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state has sacked board members of the state owned agencies, commissions and 64 Development Centre Coordinators in the state.
While the reason for the sack has not been disclosed, those affected have been directed to hand over all government property including official vehicles in their possession on or before the close of office on Monday, March 20.
A statement signed by the Secretary to Ebonyi State Government, Dr.Ugbala Kenneth, read;
“The governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, has approved immediate dissolution of Boards, Commissions, and Development Centre Coordinators, except Ebonyi State University Governing Council.
“In view of the foregoing, the Development Centre Coordinators are to hand over all government property in their possession including their official vehicles to the office of the Secretary to the State Government and Coordinating Commissioner, on or before the close of work on Tuesday 21st March, 2023.
“Similarly, the boards and commissions are to hand over government property in their possession to their parent ministries on or before the close of work on Tuesday, 21st March, 2023.”
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Lagos has congratulated Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu (of APC) on his victory in Saturday’s governorship election.
INEC on Monday morning declared Mr Sanwo-Olu as the poll’s winner, defeating all his 15 opponents with 762,134 votes for a second term in office.
In a statement on Monday, the SDP chairman in Lagos, Femi Olaniyi (aka Ferrari), said Mr Sanwo-Olu’s victory showed his popularity.
Mr Olaniyi, who urged Mr Sanwo-Olu to be magnanimous in victory, however, called for inclusive governance.
“In the spirit of sportsmanship, we want to congratulate Sanwo-Olu on his deserved victory at Saturday’s governorship election. Sanwo-Olu’s re-election provides him with another opportunity to justify the hope reposed on him by the people,” said the SDP chairman.
Mr Olaniyi added;
“It is a time to reflect and chat (about) a way to get the dividends of democracy across to the masses. It is another opportunity to alleviate the suffering of the masses. It is another time to put smiles on the faces of our people at the grassroots. We believe Sanwo-Olu will do more for the people of Lagos state.”
He said the governor must be more inclusive in governance and bring the right and qualified people on board to deliver his campaign promises to the people.
“The SDP will want to use this medium to counsel the governor to prioritise inclusiveness and carry all relevant stakeholders along,” the party chair urged.
According to him, SDP will not hesitate to offer counsel and engage in constructive criticism where necessary.
Mr Olaniyi, who noted that the election was not without flaws, urged INEC, security agencies and other stakeholders to improve the electoral process in the country.
Mr Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to defeat his closest rival of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who scored 312,329 votes. PDP candidate Abdul-Azeez Adediran came third with 62,449 votes.
Despite the announcement of a dawn-to-dusk curfew in Kano, hundreds of residents have trooped out to jubilate with the winner of the state’s governorship election.
On Monday, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje imposed a curfew reportedly to avoid a breakdown of law and order following INEC’s declaration of NNPP’s candidate as the winner of the governorship election.
The information and internal affairs commissioner, Muhammad Garba, made the announcement in a statement on Monday.
He said the decision was to prevent hoodlums from causing chaos in the already tense situation.
The commissioner called on people in the state to remain indoors as security agents would not spare anyone, or a group bent on causing trouble.
INEC had declared Abba Yusuf of the NNPP as the winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Kano, beating Deputy Governor Nasir Gawuna at the poll.
The results have generated tension in Kano, prompting the government’s proactive measures to avert chaos.
Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared as the winner of the governorship election in Nasarawa state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Ishaya Tanko, the state collation and returning officer who made the announcement on Monday, March 20, said Sule polled a total of 347, 209 votes to defeat his closest opponent David Ombugadu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who got 283, 016 votes.
Tanko said;
“Abdullahi Sule of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes in the election, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the Lagos governorship election held over the weekend.
According to the results released by INEC, Sanwo-Olu who is the incumbent governor, polled 762,134 votes to defeat Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party who secured 312,329 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate trailed in third place with 62,449 votes.
Recall that the declaration was delayed as the INEC officials awaited the results from the elections in Eti-Osa local government held on Sunday, March 19.
According to the results from the local government, APC polled 25, 063 votes, PDP 1468 while LP secured 19, 967
The Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reacted to his electoral victory in the state governorship election held over the weekend.
INEC in the early hours of today declared him the winner of the election.
Speaking shortly after the declaration, Governor Sanwo-Olu said Lagosians have made their voices heard.
Part of his speech reads;
“To all of our fellow contestants, we want to salute you for participating in the democratic process, but Lagosians have spoken and have spoken well. They have spoken loud. Please remember that we’re extending a hand of fellowship to you, no victor, no vanquished. In the true spirit of sportsmanship, if you indeed believe that you want to serve this state, you have an opportunity with us and we will open our doors to listen and to give you a space in this government.”
He also spoke out against the identity politics that became commonplace in the lead-up to the polls last Saturday.
“During this campaign, unfortunately, we have seen very divisive rhetoric which is not a definition of who we are. So, Lagosians, we need to come together and further rebuild the capacity, the competence, and the experience that we have in this city. Religion should not divide us, ethnicity will not divide us. Lagos will come out bigger, stronger, and better.”
Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto of the APC has been declared the winner of the Sokoto State Governorship polls.
According to the results released, Aliyu secured a total of 453661 votes to beat his main rival, PDP’s Saidu Umar, who polled a total of 40, 4632 votes
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has declared the governorship election in Kebbi state inconclusive.
INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Prof. Yusuf Saidu, who disclosed this, said the election was marred by irregularities in 18 local government areas of the state.
The returning officer quoted some sections from the electoral law which gave him the power to declare the results inconclusive.
The Kano state government has imposed a dawn to dusk curfew as the state residents await the state guber election results for the state.
In a statement issued by the state commissioner for information and internal affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba, the state government said the decision was to prevent hoodlums from causing chaos in the already tense situation.
The commissioner called on people in the state to remain indoors as security agents would not spare anyone or group bent on causing trouble.
Hulaira Hussaini Ardo, the senior wife of Fulani Chief, Malam Husaaini Ardo, has been shot dead by bandits after they collected N2 million ransom from the family in Kaduna State.
The bandits kidnapped the four wives of Ardo after invading his residence on Feb. 11, 2023. Subsequently, the ransom (money and foodstuff) demanded for the release of the four wives was taken to the leader of the bandits in a forest between Kagarko and Kachia LGAs.
Upon receiving the ransom, the leader of the bandits fatally shot the senior wife and set free the remaining three.
The bandits also refused to release the corpse of the senior wife, family members revealed.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to thoroughly review results of Saturday’s governorship and States Assembly elections.
The electoral umpire made the promise following allegations of voter harassment, inducement and manipulation of results in several states.
INEC also explained why it has not uploaded all the results of the February 25 Presidential election to its results viewing portal, IReV.
A statement released by INEC’s spokesperson, Festus Okoye, read;
“The Commission did not deploy to 176,846 polling units during the Presidential and National Assembly elections. We explained to Nigerians that there were polling units that had zero registered voters and consequently, the Commission deployed to a total of 176,606 polling units.
“Not only that, there were places where elections did not take place and there were places where the deployment did not take place. So in those areas you do not expect any results to be uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing Portal for such areas.
“So, the commission, before we reconfigured the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS for the Governorship and State Assembly Elections, we made sure that data that were left behind in the BVAS relating to the Presidential and National Assembly Elections were pushed to the backend for purposes of giving those who want to go to court or giving litigants the opportunity of having the data from the backend of the commission relating to those who were accredited during the Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
“Political parties and candidates have been applying for this particular data and the commission has been making the accreditation data available to all those who are interested.
“With the governorship election, you can see that there has been improved performance of the IReV In terms of uploading of polling units results in real time. You can also notice that there was improved performance in terms of voter identification and authentication. Now, what that means is that the commission is making progress and also making efforts to overcome whatever challenges were recorded during the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“We have left no stone unturned as far as the processes and procedures under the control of the Commission were concerned. However, for difficult and unforeseen circumstances outside the Commission’s control, we did our best to respond, especially where processes were disrupted by actors over whom we have little or no control.
“Such diabolical behaviour did not only affect citizens but also impacted on the Commission’s officials and processes. INEC staff, both regular and ad hoc were victims of violence. Some of our staff were abducted, harassed, intimidated, hospitalized and in one case killed.
“Nevertheless, where we could not deploy to enable citizens to vote, the Commission took the decision to remobilize to such places to enable citizens to exercise their franchise. Unfortunately, we could not extend the same to areas where voting was disrupted, and election materials destroyed. We are keeping our eyes on those areas and would not hesitate to remobilize where the outcome of the election is affected.
“At the moment, collation of results and declaration of winners for the 28 Governorship and 993 State Assembly elections are ongoing nationwide. We are committed to the sanctity of the process and will not hesitate to take drastic measures against proven irregularities. Allegations of voter inducement, harassment and manipulation of results will be reviewed and addressed.
“He said the commission is still collating figures relating to the number of staff abducted. Some have been released and some are still facing various degrees of threats in various states of the Federation. At the end of the exercise, we will have full details about the incidents.
“On the invasion of INEC’s Obingwa Local Government Area office in Abia State by thugs during the collation of results for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, results from the area would be thoroughly reviewed.
“In contention was the collated result from the Registration Areas for the Governorship election in that Local Government Area. The intention was to force the collation of these contentious results. The behaviour of these thugs is unacceptable and there will be a thorough review of the results.
“The Commission does not take the patience of citizens for granted and will continue to take steps to protect the integrity of the vote and consolidate the progress made so far in the electoral process”.
Actress Funke Akindele who was the running mate of PDP governorship candidate in Lagos state, Abdulazeez Adediran, has deleted all posts relating to politics and the PDP on her Instagram page.
All photos from her campaign rallies as well as other political engagements during the electioneering process are not present.
The PDP lost to the incumbent governor and APC candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in the Saturday, March 18 election.
26-year-old Rukayat Motunrayo Shittu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, has been declared the winner of Owode Onire state constituency of Asa Local Government Area in Kwara State House of Assembly election.
Ms Shittu polled 7,521 to defeat her rival in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6,957 during Saturday’s election.
This makes her one of the youngest candidates in Nigeria to contest and win a political seat.
Shittu is a journalist and a former Senate President of the Congress of NOUN Students (CONS) at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) She attended Baptist Primary School LGEA in Ilorin, and Government Girls Day Secondary School, Oko Erin, where she obtained her Senior Secondary School Certificate in 2011.
She proceeded to Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies affiliated with Bayero University Kano where she obtained a diploma certificate in Mass Communication and Islamic Studies in 2015. After her diploma, she enrolled in a fashion school.
In 2017, she was admitted to the National Open University of Nigeria and graduated in 2022.
In an interview with the Premium Times, after she won the nomination as APC candidate, Shittu said her parents are fully in support of her political career.
“I have the best parents anyone could pray for on earth. They are the backbone of my political aspirations and it has been like that since I was an undergraduate. My dad usually advised me to contest positions in school and I mostly got finances for the contests from him. Their disposition regarding my political aspiration is so firm,” she said.
“My dad studied me and knows what is best for me so he doesn’t hesitate when I aspire for things. I had been class reps since primary school days and that continued until I graduated from National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) as the first female senate president of the Congress of NOUN Students (CONS), heading the legislative arm of the students’ association in over 85 study centres across the federation.
Governor Seyi Makinde of PDP has been declared the winner of the Oyo state governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC declared him the winner this afternoon, March 19.
According to the results released, Makinde polled a total of 563,756 votes to beat his closest rival, Teslim Folarin of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 256,685 votes, while Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord Party secured 38,357 votes.
Hoodlums armed with guns and machetes on Sunday morning attacked the Ogoja Local Government INEC collation centre in Cross River.
The hoodlums stormed the centre when the result of the House of Assembly election in the Ogoja constituency was being announced.
The spokesperson of the police command in Cross River, SP Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the incident, said the situation was quickly controlled.
Ms Ugbo said most of the hoodlums had been arrested and were being profiled to ascertain the level of their involvement in the attack.
The Local Government Collation Officer, Paul Bassey, who was injured during the attack and rushed to hospital, described the incident as “barbaric”.Mr Bassey said his laptop and duplicate result sheets were destroyed during the attack.
“One of my colleagues is still being treated in the theatre and I pray he comes out alive as heavy stones and planks were used on him,” he said.
The Electoral Officer for Ogoja Local Government, Peter Kolo, said the hoodlums broke security barriers at the collation centre to destroy the election results.
“As I speak with you, we have recovered all the results from both the BVAS and uploaded results in the portal, and we will soon resume announcing the results from the three remaining wards,” Mr Kolo said.
The State Constituency Collation Officer, Timothy Ellah of the University of Calabar, said he was beaten by the thugs and sustained injury.
“We have, however, recovered all the results, and we are ready to resume announcing the results,” Mr Ellah said.
INEC had already announced the election results of seven out of the 10 wards for the Ogoja Assembly seat when the hoodlums attacked the collation centre.
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun has expressed appreciation to the electorate in the state for the “landslide victory” for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates in Saturday’s assembly elections.
This is contained in a statement by Olawale Rasheed, the spokesperson to the governor, on Sunday in Osogbo.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared PDP candidates the winners of 25 out of the 26 House of Assembly seats in the state.
Mr Adeleke said the victories the PDP had secured in the state from July 16, 2022, governorship election till date was a complete embrace of the party by the Osun people for good governance and responsive leadership.”
My good people of Osun state, you have honoured me and my party with another remarkable victory at the assembly elections.
“You have passed an excellent vote of confidence in my administration and my party by a series of electoral mandates in the last three elections.
“I went around the state with my scorecard under 100 days, and you responded by endorsing my party’s candidates for legislative offices.”
You have approved of our people-focused governance and our demonstrated will to resolve all outstanding challenges inherited from the previous administration,” he said.
Mr Adeleke, however, called on members of the opposition party to join him in building a new Osun state.”
To my brothers and sisters in opposition, I extend hands of fellowship and brotherhood. Join me in building a new Osun state.
“Support the will of the people as repeatedly demonstrated in the last three elections. As genuine democrats have no power except what the people will. I urge all lovers of democracy to enter the Imole train,” he said.