The Winner of The Presidential Elections Would Be Made Known today –Jega
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.
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