Buhari, Atiku show strength as results trickle in from states

Atiku Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari

Going by the results so far released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), 73 registered political parties fielded candidates in Saturday’s Presidential Election for the fun of it.

Only President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his challenger Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were showing strength as the results of the poll trickled in yesterday.

The Returning Officers from the states were at the International Conference Centre (ICC) venue of the National Collation Centre of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja to announce the results.

Some of the early results announced by the electoral umpire were those of Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Kwara, Nasarawa, Abia and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

But the results from other states had been announced at the state level by the presidential collation officers appointed by the INEC.

They include: Oyo, Niger, Kano, Kogi, Adamawa and Kaduna, among others.

Prof. Idowu Olayinka, Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan (UI), who is the Collation Officer for the election in the Ekiti, announced President Buhari of the APC as winner.

According to Prof Olayinka, Buhari polled 219, 231 votes to defeat PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, who scored 154,032 votes.

He said that of the 899,919 registered voters in the state, 395,741 were accredited; 393,709 votes were cast and 12, 577 were rejected.

Olayinka noted that the number of political parties on the ballot was responsible for the high number of voided votes.

The INEC had earlier declared APC winner of all the senatorial and House of Representatives seats in the state.

In Kogi, the APC candidate, who won in 14 of the 21 local governments in the Confluence State, was declared winner of the presidential election.

Buhari polled 285, 894 votes to defeat Atiku, who garnered 218,207 votes.

The results as declared by the Kogi State Collation Officer, Prof. Michael Adikwu of the University of Abuja, showed that the PDP flag bearer won in seven local government areas.

In a result that proved bookmakers wrong, Buhari won convincingly in Kwara State, the state of Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is the Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council. He beat his closest opponent in the presidential poll Atiku.

Prof. Abdulsalam Bala, Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, who announced the result, said that APC scored 308, 984 votes as against PDP’s 138,184.

He said the total registered vote is 1,491 895; 459, 676 votes were cast.

In Nasarawa, Buhari won, according to the Returning Officer, Prof. Azubuike Nwankwo, who said that the APC candidate polled 289, 903 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, who scored 283, 847 votes.

Buhari won eight of the 13 local government areas. Atiku won five.

Nwankwo said 613,720 voters were accredited. The total votes cast stood at 599,399.

Of the votes, 580,778 were valid; 18,621 were rejected.

In Ondo, intra-party squabbles in the ruling APC gave the Sunshine State to the PDP, whose candidate beat Buhari in 11 of the 18 local government areas.

Returning Officer Prof. Kayode Soremekun of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti said Atiku polled 275,901 votes in 11 local governments to beat Buhari, who scored 241,769 votes in the remaining seven local government areas.

The number of registered voters is 1,312,567, accredited voters, 598,586, total valid votes, 555,984, rejected votes, 3,833 and votes cast  586,827.

The PDP won in Akure North, Ifedore, Idanre, Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo, Irele, Ondo East, Ose, Akure South, Ondo West, Ese-odo and Okitipupa local government areas.

The APC won in Odigbo, Owo, Akoko North East, Akoko North West, Akoko South East, Akoko South West and Ilaje.

In Yobe, Buhari’s APC polled 497,914 to beat PDP, which scored 50,763.

Prof. Abubakar  Gunduri, the collation officer, who announced the result after collation from the 17 local government areas, said that the state had 1,365,913 registered voters, out of which, 601,059 were accredited.

According to Gunduri, the exercise recorded 559,365 valid votes and 26,772 invalid votes.

The agents of the two major parties – Dr. Zaji Bunu (APC) and Dr. Abdu Bulama (PDP) – accepted the results and signed the documents on behalf of their parties.

The collation officer for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Prof. Muhammed Liman of the Nasarawa State University, announced Atiku as the winner of the presidential poll in the nation’s capital.

He said the PDP candidate won in five of the six council areas; Buhari won in one.

Atiku won in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali. Buhari won in Abaji Local Government Area.

Prof Liman said: “APC won in Abaji with 12,847 while PDP got 9,369; in Gwagwalada, PDP won with 25,175 votes while APC got 24,363 votes.

“In Kwali, PDP won with 16,455 votes while APC got 15,505 votes. In Bwari, PDP won with 52,015 and APC got 22,115.

“PDP won in Kuje with 23,805 votes while APC got 16, 743. Likewise, in AMAC, PDP won with 133,178 while APC got 60,647 votes.”

The PDP candidate scored 259,997 votes. Buhari garnered 152,224 votes.

The APC agent declined to sign the result sheet, which his PDP counterpart signed.

The presidential collation officer in the FCT said the agent’s refusal was based on his claim that some of his party’s supporters were disenfranchised and not based on manipulation of the votes.

The PDP won the presidential poll with a wide margin in the 17 council areas of Enugu State.

Announcing the result, the Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka who is the state’s Collation Officer Prof. Joseph Ahaneku, said the PDP scored 355,553 votes and APC got 54,423 votes.

He said the results were carefully collated and observers at the collation hall were.

Ahaneku said the state had 1,944, 016 registered voters; 452,765  were accredited.

He said 421,014 were valid and 30,049 invalid.

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