The Independent National Electoral Commission has said that
despite the extension of Saturday’s elections till Sunday in
some parts of the country, the results of the presidential poll
will be declared on Monday(today).
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, gave the assurance as
some of results from wards, local government areas and
states continued to emerge on Sunday.
For instance, results from Osun and Ogun states showed the
All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Maj.Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, defeating President Goodluck Jonathan.
But in Ekiti State, Jonathan had an easy ride as he beat the
APC candidate.
Jega, who gave journalists an update on the conduct of the
polls in Abuja, said that as of Sunday evening, results of the
elections had only been completely collated in two states, one
of which was Ekiti.
He said, “Some people assume that when I said 48 hours( for
the release of the results), it starts from the morning the
elections commenced. It is 48 hours after elections have
ended, like yesterday(Saturday).
“You start counting 48 hours from yesterday (Saturday) when
substantial majority of the polling units ended elections.”
The INEC chief expressed satisfaction over the conduct of
the polls, which he said held in a substantial number of
polling units across the country, including the troubled North-
East zone where internally displaced persons voted in
Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states.
“We are pleased that the elections went on smoothly in a
substantial number of polling units across the country,
including the North-East where the commission was also able
to conduct voting for Internally Displaced Persons in the three
states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno,” Jega said.
He said that out of more than 150,000 card readers used for
the conduct of the polls , only 300 failed, representing
about 0.25 per cent of the total number of machines.
“It is also gratifying to note that the card readers worked well
in the majority of polling units, even though there were areas
where difficulties experienced necessitated additional
guidelines to allow for manual accreditation of voters, as
announced yesterday (Saturday),” Jega said.
He stated that manual accreditation was done in some polling
units in Osun, Kebbi, Ekiti, Adamawa, Borno, Jigawa,
Anambra, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states.”
Jega said the elections were extended and concluded on
Sunday in nine states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Taraba State has the highest number of 116 polling units
where the polls were extended.
Other states where the number of polling units where the
elections were extended are Lagos (90), Kebbi (16), Adamawa
(25), Niger (six ), Yobe (37), Borno (eight), Jigawa (37), Kano
(13) and FCT (two).
He also rejected the claim by the spokesman for the PDP
Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, that
his party had won in certain number of states.
Jega, who said Fani-Kayode should be asked the source of
his figures, stated that as of the time he was addressing the
journalists on Sunday evening, collation had only been
concluded in two states. He said that the results from the
two had yet to arrive Abuja in the manner that it could be
announced.
The chairman said, “You said somebody in one of the parties
said the PDP is winning in 23 states. I don’t know the
sources of his information. I know result have not been
collated in 23 states.
“May be you should direct the questions to him and let him
explain.”
He advised journalists “to be careful about reporting this
kind of information that is being put out there by people who
are clearly partisan.”
He also debunked speculation that he was under pressure to
declare results of the presidential election inconclusive.
“We are not under any pressure to declare inconclusive
elections. In fact, I wonder who will be interested in declaring
the election inconclusive. I think candidates will be interested
in being declared winners and not to have the election
declared inconclusive,” Jega said.
The INEC boss said his office had on Sunday morning
received petitions from the APC in Rivers State calling for
outright cancellation of the elections in the state.
He assured the petitioners that the commission would
consider all the complaints, including the allegation of
presence of some underage voters and substitution of some
members of the commission’s ad hoc staff with untrained
partisan persons in Rivers and Lagos states.
However, results from Osun State showed that Buhari
recorded victory in 22 out of the 24 Local Government
Areas so far announced by the state INEC. He had 264,734
votes.
Jonathan,who won the remaining LGAs – Ife Central and Ife
East – scored 192,288 votes.
The results were announced in Osogbo by the returning
officers for each of the LGAs on Sunday.
Also in Ogun State, the APC presidential candidate defeated
Jonathan in 13 out of the 20 LGAs whose results were
announced by INEC.
He polled 308, 290 votes while Jonathan scored 207,950
votes.
The APC candidate for the Ogun Central Senatorial District,
Lanre Tejuoso, defeated PDP’s Abisola Sodipo-Clark, the
wife of an Ijaw national leader, Edwin Clark.
Tejuoso scored 115, 197 votes while Sodipo-Clark had 30,036
votes. The sitting senator for Ogun Central and Social
Democratic Party’s candidate, Olugbenga Obadara, got 15,124
votes.
Jonathan, however, had it easy in Ekiti State where he polled
176,466 votes from 16 councils in the state. Buhari garnered
120,331 votes.
The result was announced by the state Returning Officer, Prof.
Adebiyi Daramola, to party officials on Sunday.
It was also a sweet victory for the PDP as it won all the three
senatorial and six House of Representatives seats in the state.
Impliedly, by implication two of the APC senators – Anthony
Adeniyi and Olubunmi Adetumbi – who contested the poll
will not join their colleagues in the eight National Assembly.
Gbenga Olofin, the third APC candidate for Ekiti Central was
defeated by Fatimat Raji-Rasaki, wife of a former Lagos State
military administrator, Brig.-Gen. Raji Rasaki of the PDP.
Those elected for the House of Representatives seats are
Kehinde Agboola, Ayotunde Oladimeji, Thaddeus Aina, Olamide
Oni, Akin Awodumila and Segun Adekola.
In Kogi State, Buhari was leading by polling 108,817 votes
from six LGAs as against Jonathan’s 84,555 in five LGAs.
The APC candidate also won in Dekina, the LGA of Governor
Idris Wada with 18, 819 votes to Jonathan’s 13,885 votes. He
also won in Amadu Alli’s LGA of Idah with 10,445 votes to
Jonathan’s 6,113.
But there was a mild tension in parts of Imo State on Sunday
as armed officials of the Department of State Services, the
Police and the Army barred journalists from collation centres
in the state.
At the collation centre in Owerri Municipal Council Secretariat,
journalists were turned back from the gate by stern looking
security operatives who asked them to go back and wait
until the results were announced.
All efforts to reach the Resident Electoral Commissioner,
George Ada, were abortive as his telephone was switched off.