Buhari leads with 2m votes …as INEC declares 18 states, FCT only

 

Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd)

Results from 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory so far released by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday showed the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari coasting to victory.

He polled 8,520,436 votes in the states and the FCT while his Peoples Democratic Party counterpart and incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan had 6,488,210 votes.

The Daura, Katsina State-born former Head of State won 10 of the states and Jonathan, eight plus the FCT.

The states cleared by Buhari are Kaduna, Kwara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Kogi and Ogun.

Jonathan captured Abia, Anambra, Nasarawa, Enugu, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Plateau and FCT.

In the South-West states, Buhari won in   Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun but lost in Ekiti where he garnered 120,331 votes. Jonathan   polled 176,466 votes in the PDP-controlled state.

Buhari polled   299,889 votes   in Ondo, 308,290 in Ogun, 528, 620 in Oyo and 383,603 in Osun while Jonathan had   251,368; 207,950; 303,376; 249,929 respectively.

The results from Lagos State are yet to be announced.

Expectedly, the President held sway in the South-East by scoring in Abia, 368,303 votes; Anambra, 660, 762; Enugu,553,003; Ebonyi, 323,653 and Imo, 559,185.

Buhari had 13,394 votes in Abia State; 17,926 in Anambra; 14,157 in Enugu; 19,518 in Ebonyi and133,253 in Imo.

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INEC only announced the results from only one of the six South-South states before it shifted further action till Tuesday(today). The state is Akwa Ibom where Jonathan had 953,304 votes against Buhari’s 58,411.

Jonathan also had the upper hand in the FCT where he garnered157, 195 votes ahead of Buhari’s 146, 399.

In Kwara State, the former Head of State recorded 302,146 votes; 1,127,760 in Kaduna;     1,345,441in his home state of Katsina;   885,988 in Jigawa; 1,903,999 in Kano; 236,838 in Nasarawa; 264, 851in Kogi   and 429,140 in Plateau.

Jonathan had 132,602 in Kwara; 484,085 in Kaduna; 98,937 in Katsina; 142,904 in Jigawa; 215,779 in Kano; 273,460 in Nasarawa; 149,987 in Kogi; and 549, 615 in Plateau.

Saturday’s election was the fourth time Buhari was taking a shot at the Presidency. In 2003 and 2007, he   flew the flag of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party and in 2011, the Congress for Progressive Change.

Hours before   the results were announced , Jonathan met behind closed doors with some foreign observers who monitored the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Those he met with were   a former Ghanaian President,   Kuffour, who is the leader of the ECOWAS Elections Observers; a former Liberian President, Amos Sawyer,   leader of the African Union Election Observer Mission; a former Malawian President and Head of Commonwealth Election Observer Mission, Bakili Muluzi; and the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Ambassador Aisha Laraba Abdullahi.

The meeting which started inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja at about 3.30pm was also attended by Vice-President Namadi Sambo and a few presidential aides.

US, UK warn against manipulation of results

As the meeting was ongoing, the United States and the United Kingdom   expressed concern over what they called “disturbing indications” of a “deliberate political interference “ in the collation process.

The UK Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond,   and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, in a joint statement posted on www.uk.gov, said “there are disturbing indications that

the collation process – where the votes are finally counted – may be subject to deliberate political interference.”

Warning politicians not to undermine the independence of INEC, they said their observations so far showed that   there had been no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process.

According to them, any plot to change the results would contravene the letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord, to which both major parties committed themselves.

The statement read,”The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom would be very concerned by any attempts to undermine the independence of the electoral commission (INEC) or its Chairman, Prof (Attahiru Jega); or in any way distort the expressed will of the Nigerian people.

“Our governments welcome the largely peaceful vote on March 28. The Nigerian people have shown a commendable determination to register their vote and choose their leaders.

PDP rejects results in Kano, six other states

The PDP, apparently sensing defeat had earlier on Monday called on INEC to cancel the results in Kano, Gombe, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina, Bauchi and Kogi states.

The party said its call was necessitated by what it called massive irregularities   in the seven states.

The Deputy National Chairman of the party,   Uche Secondus,   at a news conference in Abuja   alleged that irregularities such as underaged voting, night voting and harassment of PDP supporters   took place in the   states.

But in Rivers State where the state chapter of the APC also called for the cancellation of the elections, INEC said it had sent a three-man committee   to investigate   alleged irregularities that characterised the conduct of the polls.

The committee headed by   the Supervisory National Commissioner for the state, Thelma Iremirem, has M.K Hammanga and Lai Olurode as members.

A statement by the Secretary to the commission, Augusta Ogakwu, explained that the action was necessitated by the call for the cancellation of the elections in the state by the APC.

Ogakwu   said in the statement that the members of the committee had left for a fact-finding mission to the state.

The statement read, “Further to the allegation made by the APC on the conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday   in Rivers State and its call for the cancellation of the exercise, INEC has set up a fact-finding mission to ascertain the veracity of the claims and allegations and to advise the commission and the Chief Electoral Commissioner/Returning Officer for the presidential elections.”