• Elections held across states amid low voter turnout
• PDP bounces back in Ondo, leads in Ekiti
• Jonathan: Our party’ll regain strength
• Improved card reader performance recorded nationwide
• Over 10 persons killed
Governorship and House of Assembly elections took place yesterday across the country, in an election that witnessed a relatively low turnout when compared with the turnout in the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections. And while the polls passed off without incident in many places, in some states, there were violent incidents, deaths, and reports of electoral malpractice.
Exit polls and early results from the polling units indicated that the incumbent governor of Ogun State and candidate of All Progressives Congress, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, and the APC candidate in Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, who is the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, and his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, might be winning the race in their states.
Okowa was leading in his Delta North senatorial district, with reports of excellent performance in the other two senatorial zones. In Owa- Oyibu, ward 1, PDP scored 5,145 votes, APC polled 1 vote, and Labour Party had 1 vote. In Ute-Okpu, ward 9, PDP had 1,953 votes, APC had 3 votes, and Labour Party had 8 votes.
Unofficial results from Ogun State put Amosun ahead in many of the polling units. In Ifo local government, ward 007, Oke Aro unit 011, PDP polled 8 votes, Social Democratic Party scored 7 votes, and APC scored 122 votes. At polling unit 03 ward 03, Remo-North local government, PDP scored 179, APC scored 130. Others included ward 6, Sagamu, unit 8, APC 205, PDP 83; ward 1, Ifo local government, APC 1,891, PDP 635, SDP 158; ward 9 Sagamu local government, APC 1,429, PDP 612; Ado Odo-Ota local government, APC 8,787, PDP 2,987, SDP 740; Ijebu Ode local government, APC 2,754, PDP 2,699, SDP 187; Ajuwon/Akute, Ifo local government final results, APC 4,225, PDP 861, SDP 313; ward 6 Sagamu unit 8, APC 205, PDP 83; Ifo 012, SDP 22, APC 108, PDP 38; Arigbajo ward 3, Ewekoro local government, APC 1,063, PDP 292, SDP 56.
From some of the results collated at the polling units, PDP seemed to be recovering quickly in Ondo State after losing the presidential election in the state to APC. Many principal officers of the Governor Olusegun Mimiko showed a better performance in their wards and polling units than they did at the previous election.
At Unit 20, Ward 7, Ondo West, which is Mimiko’s unit, PDP scored 221 votes while APC had 22 votes. The results also showed that PDP won in the ward of the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Rotimi Adelola, Ayesan Ward Unit 8, in Odigbo Local Government Area, with PDP polling 226 votes and APC polling 12 votes. At ward 1 Idanre Local Government Area, where the Chief of Staff to Mimiko, Dr Kola Ademujimi, voted, PDP secured 213 votes against 58 votes scored by APC. PDP also won at that polling unit where the Commissioner for Information, Mr Kayode Akinmade, voted in Idanre Local Government Area with a wide margin. Though, INEC was yet to officially announce the results, preliminary results showed that the Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Jumoke Akindele, won in her Okitipupa Constituency 2.
Results filtering in also indicated that PDP was leading in many units in Akoko area of the state as well as Ondo East and Ondo West constituencies. In Akure North and Idanre constituencies, unconfirmed results indicated that PDP was leading.
In Ekiti State, exit polls indicated that PDP was heading to victory in many of the constituencies.
The three leading political parties in Oyo State, Accord, APC, and Labour Party, were neck and neck from the early indications. Preliminary results in some polling booths and collation centres monitored by THISDAY showed that former Governor Rashidi Ladoja of Accord was leading in many polling booths in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, closely trailed by incumbent Governor Abiola Ajimobi of APC. Another former governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, was in the third position, while the PDP and SDP governorship candidates, Senator Teslim Folarin and Seyi Makinde, respectively, placed in the fourth and fifth in early results from some polling units in the city.
Exit polls in Plateau State from 376 of 2630 Polling Units have placed Senator Gyang Pwajok, PDP gubernatorial candidate ahead of Barrister Simon Lalong of the APC, with PDP having 56 per cent and APC having 44 per cent.
This is even as Pwajok has won his polling unit, securing 111 votes against Lalong, who secured 82 votes at the unit.
Pwajok was registered, accredited and cast his vote at polling unit 009, Anguwan Dalyop, Ali Kazaure ward with a total of 351 registered voters.
However, only 196 voters were accredited while 193 voters turned up to cast their votes: two votes were declared invalid.
Meanwhile, collation has continued with results trickling in gradually.
Exit polls in some polling units in Lagos State showed that some prominent politicians lost in their polling units – just like the case in the March 28 election. In PDP’s gubernatorial candidate, Jimi Agbaje’s polling unit in Apapa, the governorship candidate of APC, Akinwunmi Ambode, polled 124 votes as against PDP’s 88 votes. Agbaje’s running mate, Mrs. Safurat Layode-Abdulkareem, who voted in Badagry, an area once controlled by PDP, lost her polling unit, scoring 72 votes as against 140 votes polled by APC.
At the polling unit of former Deputy National Chairman of PDP, Chief Bode George, the party polled 87 votes while APC got 139 votes. However, the tide turned in favour of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs II, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, in whose polling unit PDP polled 50 votes while APC scored 48 votes.
At the polling unit of the national leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, APC polled 230 votes while PDP got 62 votes. The state governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s Ward G-3 Polling Unit 002 in Surulere, APC polled 270 votes and PDP got 132 votes. Also the senator-elect for Lagos East senatorial district, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, led APC to a 531 votes win in Ibeju-Lekki polling unit, where PDP polled 317 votes. APC also won at the polling unit of the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, in Surulere with 93 votes while PDP had 89 votes.
Across the local councils in the state, the pattern of the election results released at polling units comfortably put the APC candidate in early lead. The early results showed the state’s ruling party winning in some areas where PDP had won in the just concluded presidential election.
The exit polls are based on actual results at the polling unit and ward levels.
House of Assembly elections were held in all 36 states of the federation, while the governorship positions in 29 states were contested. About 760 governorship and 5,290 House of Assembly candidates contested the elections. Governorship election was not held in Anambra, Ekiti, Osun, Edo, Bayelsa, Ondo, and Kogi states.
The elections witnessed a remarkable improvement in the performance of the Smart Card Readers. This was in stark contrast to the situation on March 28, when the card readers could not accredit many voters, including President Goodluck Jonathan, who was presidential candidate of PDP, and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan. Though, the first lady was later accredited with the card reader, the president could only be accredited via the incident form.
At yesterday’s election, however, Jonathan arrived at his polling unit in Otuoke at 10.55am – without his wife – and was accredited about two minutes later with the card reader. The president who spoke to journalists after his accreditation, expressed optimism that PDP would do better at the governorship election. “My conviction is that PDP will do well. It may probably do better in a number of states,” Jonathan said, against the backdrop of the party’s loss of the presidential and National Assembly elections.
In Katsina State, it also took about two minutes for the president-elect, General Muhamnadu Buhari, to be accredited with the card reader at his polling booth at Sarikin Yara in Daura. He got to the polling unit about 8.12am.
But the card reader deployed by INEC to Ladura polling unit, in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, where the state governor, Jonah Jang, and his wife, Talatu, voted, failed to accredit the duo, just as it did during the March 28 election. Similar to what happened in the previous election, the governor and his wife filled the incident form before being accredited.
The PDP chairman in Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Mr Emeka Nworie, was in the early hours of yesterday shot dead by gunmen at his Ezzagu residence in the council area. A source, who pleaded anonymity, told THISDAY that the deceased died after he was shot severally by the unknown assailants. Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in Ebonyi State, Chris Anyanwu, said the assailants had approached the victim’s wife and demanded money before shooting him to death.
Still in Ebonyi State, one Mike Ojon was on Friday night killed by unknown persons at Ikwo in Ikwo Local Government Area.
In Rivers State, three people were feared killed in election-related violence in Buguma, headquarters of Asari-Toru Local Government Area. THISDAY gathered that one of the persons killed was beheaded close to the palace of the traditional ruler of the town. The palace and the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission were set on fire.
A 21-year-old man, Mallam Salim Nasir, was killed in Plateau State by an operative of the joint military tasks force at a polling station in
Ali Kazaure area of Sarkin Arab ward, in Jos North Local Government Area. Nasir had, allegedly, engaged another man, who was said to be a supporter of a different political party, in a fight, and in the process had pulled out a sword to stab his opponent. The sight of the drawn sword, THISDAY learnt, drew the attention of the security personnel, who then pulled out his pistol and shot the man. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died later.
The spokesman of the STF, Captain Ikedichi Iweaha, confirmed the incident but said the victim was hit by stray bullet, as the soldier shot in the air to try to disperse the crowd that had started to gather due to the scuffle at the polling unit.
In Bogoro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, a serving PDP councillor for Gizaki/Badagari ward, Mr Musa Daniel, was beaten to death while he was on election duty, according to the chairman of the council, Hassana Arkila.
An election-related incident yesterday, reportedly, left a 300-level student of Psychology at the Benue State University, Makurdi, dead. Eyewitness accounts said the deceased, popularly called “Quality” and “Title IC”, was shot in the head by his close friend, called Goddy aka “Gordons”, at close range with a revolver. The incident happened at the Mission Ward, a suburb of the North Bank area in Makurdi.
See additional reports and photographs on Governorship/House of Assembly elections on pages 10, 11, 14, 90, 96, 97, 98 and 99.
Source: Thisday
