The controversies trailing non-conclusion of governorship elections in some states will be resolved today at a crucial meeting summoned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Top INEC sources confirmed to LEADERSHIP yesterday that the electoral umpire would meet today to take decisions on the yet-to-be-concluded elections and possibly fix dates for rerun polls, especially in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Sokoto, Rivers, Plateau and other states where the processes were stalemated. The commission has 21 days to complete elections in areas or states where the processes have been declared inconclusive. The states were among the 29 states in the country where the governorship elections were held on Saturday, March 9 but the final results were either not announced or the leading candidate did not have a convincing margin of votes.
In other cases, the number of
voided votes and the figure required for a winner to be declared was
below the cancelled votes thereby warranting a rerun. However, the
governorship elections did not hold in Anamabra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti,
Kogi, Ondo, and Osun States because the tenures of the incumbent
governors have not elapsed. And after a long wait, INEC last night
declared the outcome of Saturday’s governorship election in Kano State
as inconclusive.
The announcement was made yesterday evening by
the state’s returning officer, Prof. Bello Shehu. Shehu said that the
election was inconclusive because the number of cancelled votes was
higher than the difference in votes scored between the two leading
candidates: Abba Yusuf of PDP and incumbent governor Abdullahi Ganduje
of the APC. Announcing the results, Shehu said that while the PDP
candidate polled 1,014,474 votes, Ganduje scored 987,819 votes leaving a
difference of 26,655 votes.
He also said the total number of
votes cancelled in 22 local government areas including Gama ward of
Nasarawa councils was 141,694 votes. INEC national commissioner and
chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye,
confirmed to LEADERSHIP yesterday, that the commission would today take
a stand on the states where elections have been declared inconclusive.
Okoye said: “As at now, collation is still ongoing in some states. We
are still monitoring the situation. We are also in contact with the
resident electoral commissioners (REC) where the elections were declared
inconclusive. By tomorrow (today) we will take a stand on when the
supplementary elections will hold in these states.”
In Benue
State, for instance, the INEC returning officer, Prof. Sabastine
Maimako, did not declare Governor Samuel Ortom, the winner of the
governorship election because the total number of votes cancelled
outnumbered the margin of win by Ortom, the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) candidate. Ortom got the highest votes of 410,576 while the All
Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr. Emmanuel Jime, came second
with 329,022 votes. Maimako explained that the difference of margin of
lead by Ortom was 81,554 while the cancelled votes stood at 121,019. He,
therefore, urged INEC to conduct a fresh election in the affected areas
within 21 days.
LEADERSHIP gathered that of the 23 local
governments in the state, Ortom won in 12 councils. Also yesterday,
Sokoto State governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, asked INEC to declare him
as the winner of the governorship election having met all the Electoral
Act and constitutional requirements such as scoring the highest number
of votes cast.
Tambuwal told a press conference at the Sokoto
Government House that INEC chairman, Prof Mahmud Yakubu and all other
officials of the commission should not forget that they have their
integrity to uphold the truth before Nigerians. While appreciating the
people of the state for their trust and confidence in him, the governor
said that the outcome of the vote was a confirmation of their trust in
his leadership.
He “You cannot underrate God’s factor in
whatever you do. I, therefore, wish to thank the people of the state for
coming out en mass to cast their votes for us. Their action at the
polling on Saturday, 9th March, 2019 was a confirmation of their trust
and belief in our leadership style.”
Tambuwal, who insisted that
the provision of the constitution and Electoral Act should be
judiciously followed by INEC to declare him the winner of the poll,
added that “we are still waiting for INEC on the purported declaration
of inconclusive election in Sokoto.” He said that his party would not
boycott any rerun election in the state because the will of the people
would certainly prevail.
Ihedioha Wins Imo Gov’ship
Race
At exactly 11.57 pm yesterday, INEC declared former deputy speaker of
the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP as the
governor-elect of Imo State. Iheadioha coasted to victory with 273,404
votes while his closest rival, Mr. Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance
(AA) and son-in-law of the incumbent Governor Rochas Okorocha, scored
190, 364 votes. Senator Ifeanyi Ararume of the All Progressive Grand
Alliance (APGA) came third with 114, 676 votes. INEC said that apart
from scoring the highest votes, Ihedioha met the constitutional
requirements and therefore returned him elected.
PDP Plans Mass Protest
And shocked by the gales of the inconclusive election syndrome in the
states where its governorship candidates are leading, the opposition PDP
has directed its leaders and members in such states to immediately
embark on protest marches to INEC offices and use all legitimate means
to protect their votes.
The party’s national publicity
secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who gave the order at a press conference
in Abuja, yesterday accused INEC of surrendering its independence to the
ruling APC by declaring election in states where PDP was leading as
inconclusive. The party also lamented the violence that trailed the
governorship elections and alleged that information at its disposal
revealed that 58 persons were killed during the polls.
Ologbondiyan explained that the PDP’s call for the protest was not a
call to anarchy but for the defence of its candidates’ mandates within
the ambits of the law. He said: “Today, the majority of Nigerians and
the global democratic institutions are questioning the state of our
democracy and electoral processes, which have been under siege under the
supervision of President Buhari and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
“In
the light of these INEC’s manipulative tendencies, the PDP, therefore,
charges our leaders, teeming members and lovers of democracy in the
affected states to immediately commence a march to INEC offices and use
all legitimate means to protect our mandate as freely given by the
people at the polling units across the nation,” he said.
According
to him, “our party has also been informed of how INEC is now seeking
for ways to use the situation to aid the APC to alter the results and
announce APC candidates as winners in the elections clearly led by the
PDP just as it did in the 2018 Osun State governorship election. “In
some of the states like Rivers, the PDP has information of plots by APC
to leverage on the declaration by INEC to unleash more violence in the
state and push for an isolated election where they can bring in more
security forces to concentrate on forcefully taking over the state.
“Already,
in Rivers State, INEC is under heavy pressure from the director-general
of the Buhari Campaign Organisation and minister of Transport, Rotimi
Amaechi, to post out and replace the state resident electoral
commissioner (REC) as well as the administrative secretary,”
Ologbondiyan said.
I Want To Live A Legacy Of Free, Fair Elections In Nigeria – PMB
Amid these controversies, President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that
he would want to be remembered as the Nigerian leader who kept his word
that elections in the country must be free, fair and credible. Receiving
Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State in Daura yesterday, the
president described last Saturday’s governorship and state assemblies’
elections across the country as largely successful. Masari had visited
Buhari to inform him of his victory in the governorship poll.
Buhari, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, commended
Nigerians who heeded to his pre-election appeals to cast their votes
peacefully. He said: ‘‘I have maintained a position that elections must
be free and fair and people have the right to make their choices and
vote their consciences.
I am happy they understood the message
and did just that. ‘‘Power is a public trust that belongs to the people.
Power is not by strength or wisdom but by Providence. Elected persons
must be fair and just. This is the legacy I want to leave behind. A
leader must be fair and just. All leaders should strive to do that,’’
Buhari said Governor Masari, who was accompanied by officials of the APC
in the state, thanked the president and the party for their support
which led to his decisive victory.
In another development, ahead
of the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly, President Buhari has
said that he was looking forward to a mutual and effective working
relationship with the federal legislature toward improving the budgetary
process and restoring the country to the January-December fiscal cycle.
Receiving his old school mates, who came to congratulate him on
his re-election for a second term, the president recounted how the
delay in the passage of budgets hindered the timely execution of
projects across the country. With the victory of the APC at the
presidential election and having majority seats in the two chambers of
the National Assembly, President Buhari expressed the confidence that
more work would be done to improve the efficiency of the budgetary
process. The president told his classmates in the 1953 set of Katsina
Middle School, Daura, led by Senator Abba Ali, that it was on record
that the 2018 budget submitted to the National Assembly on November 7,
2017, was passed after seven months.
Notwithstanding the
challenges, President Buhari assured them that the Executive arm of
government under his watch would strive towards the effective
implementation of national budgets while promoting transparency and
accountability.
He thanked his old school colleagues for the
“reunion” and commended their interest and useful suggestions on
advancing Nigeria’s prosperity and stability. In his remarks, Senator
Ali, who congratulated the president on his re-election, said that
majority of Nigerians believed in his purposeful leadership and
therefore resoundingly renewed his mandate.
Army Denies Interfering With Electoral Process
Meanwhile,
the Nigerian Army yesterday rose in defence of its roles in the
electoral process and denied allegations of interference in the
exercise. The acting director Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa,
who reacted to a report of alleged interference in Rivers State’s
elections, which was credited to the United Kingdom (UK), admonished
foreign nations to always verify claims against the military whose only
objective is to protect the country’s territorial integrity.
Col.
Musa said: “The Nigerian Army has made it clear that its only interest
and role in the entire electioneering processes is purely to assist
civil authorities and the Nigeria police to have secure and peaceful
conduct of the elections. “Foreign interests are therefore enjoined to
be mindful of interfering in our internal affairs especially when there
is no credible evidence.
Any allegation against the Nigerian
Army must be confirmed from appropriate quarters before jumping to
conclusions,” he said Musa described the claims as baseless and untrue
aimed at misleading the public He continued: “The Nigerian Army wishes
to state that the statement is totally baseless, untrue and therefore
capable of misleading unsuspecting members of the public, especially
when there is no credible record of such involvement anywhere in Nigeria
before, during and after the 2019 elections.
“The Army as a
responsible organisation, wishes to debunk such misrepresentation in
order to set the record straight. Similarly, it is on record that the
Nigerian Army has been globally applauded by many individuals, foreign
and local elections observers for its sacrifices/roles in creating an
enabling environment for secure, transparent and peaceful conduct of the
elections.
“The Nigerian Army, for the umpteenth time,
reiterates that it will remain apolitical, neutral and professional in
the conduct of the 2019 general elections and in all its assigned roles
across the nation in line with the directive of the Chief of Army Staff,
Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai,” he said.
Source:- Leadershipng
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