Supplementary polls: Fintiri maintains lead as INEC concludes collation today

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, this morning maintained the lead in the governorship election after the collation of 10 out of the 20 local government areas where the supplementary election was held Saturday.

Fintiri had polled 421,524 votes in the March 18 governorship election against Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani’s 390,275. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the March 18 election inconclusive and fixed Tuesday for the supplementary poll.

Yesterday’s election was held in a total of 69 polling units with 36,935 eligible voters. Results of 10 local government areas so far collated showed that Fintiri polled 4,292 while Binani got 3,128.

Aggregation of the supplementary results with the earlier results polled by the candidates showed that Fintiri is maintaining the lead with a total of 425,816 votes as against Binani’s 393,403.

The 10 local government areas where results have been so far declared by INEC are Demsa, Yola South, Yola North, Lamurde, Jada, Ganye, Song, Maiha, Hong and Shelleng.

The aggregate results from 10 out of the 20 local government areas so far collated showed that Fintiri is leading with a margin of 32,413 votes.

Around 1am today, the electoral body said the collation of the results would be concluded by 10am.

INEC had yesterday conducted supplementary elections in 2,660 polling units across 185 local government areas of 24 states.

The supplementary elections include the governorship for Adamawa and Kebbi states, senatorial and House of Representatives and state constituencies elections where they were previously suspended due to some reasons, including violence and situations where the margin between the winner and the first runner-up was less than the votes cancelled.

Collation resumes 11am today in Kebbi

Around 2am, INEC announced that collation of results for Kebbi governorship supplementary election would resume by 11am today.

Our correspondent reports that the collation earlier fixed for 11pm yesterday by the electoral body did not start at 1:08am. Returning officers from the local governments were still being expected.

Cases of vote-buying and ballot box snatching were reported in some polling units during the supplementary election in Kebbi State.

The election, which was conducted for governorship in 142 polling units of 20 local government areas of the state, one senatorial district in Kebbi North, two federal constituencies and eight state assembly constituencies recorded vote-buying from the two major political parties in the elections.

At the few polling units where elections were held in Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area, namely, Marafa, Ambursa, Kardi, Makera,  Gawassu and Maurida/Karyo, cases of vote-buying were reported as party agents were seen distributing clothing and cash to voters, particularly women, to get their votes.

Party agents positioned themselves at obscure areas to distribute the clothing materials to the women at Kardi.

Also, at the Hisbah office polling unit, Marafa ward, Ubandoma/Takalau in old town area of Birnin Kebbi, some male voters told journalists that they were given a bag of fertilizer each and money to vote.

A woman who spoke to our correspondent at the polling unit said she and some of her friends were given wrappers and N7,000 by party agents.

Meanwhile, a yet to be identified man was shot dead by soldiers as  he attempted to snatch a ballot box from INEC officials at polling unit 001, Bajida, Fakai Local Government Area of Kebbi South.  The deceased was said to be a member of the proscribed Yansakai, a local volunteer vigilant group in the Zuru area of the state.

He was said to have intruded into the polling unit claiming to be a security agent and was shot while trying to collect gun from a soldier who was standing guard at the polling unit.

Doguwa wins 5th term, NNPP clinches Fagge

The majority leader in the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, has been declared winner of the Doguwa and Tudunwada federal constituency.

The Returning Officer, Professor Sani Ibrahim, who announced the result at the just concluded supplementary elections held across eight wards in Tudunwada Local Government, said Doguwa, having scored the highest votes cast of 41,573, is therefore, returned elected.

His closest rival, Yushau Salisu of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) polled 34,831 votes.

APC wins senatorial seats in Yobe, Plateau

INEC has declared Senator Ibrahim Mohammed Bomai of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the Yobe South senatorial election.

Bomai scored 69,596 votes to defeat his closest rival, Halilu Mazagane of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 68,885 votes.

While declaring the result at the collation centre in the Federal College of Education (Technical), Potiskum, INEC’s Returning Officer for the election, Dr Abacha Meleni, said that Bomai, “having satisfied the requirements of the law, is declared winner and returned elected.”

In the same vein, INEC declared Diket Plang of the APC as winner of the Plateau Central senatorial seat.

Declaring the result in Pankshin, the headquarters of the Plateau Central senatorial zone, INEC’s Returning Officer, Dr Jima Lar, said Plang scored a total of 131,129 votes to emerge winner.

He said Plang’s closest challenger, Yohanna Gotom of the PDP came second with 127,022 votes, while  Garba Pwul of the Labour Party came third with 36,510 votes.

NNPP’s candidate unseats APC’s Goro in Fagge

Meanwhile, the candidate of the NNPP, MB Shehu, a lawyer, was declared winner of the Fagge federal constituency, Kano, for the House of Representatives.

Shehu unseated the incumbent House of Representatives member, Aminu Sulaiman Goro of the APC, who is serving his third term.

Announcing the results, the Returning Officer, Professor Ibrahim Tajo Suraj, said Shehu polled 19, 024 votes, followed by the candidate of the Labour Party, Shuaibu Abubakar, who polled 12, 789 votes, while Aminu Sulaiman Goro of the APC came third with 8, 669 votes.

Ogun Speaker wins re-election

INEC has declared the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, winner of the Ifo 1 constituency election.

The Returning Officer for Ifo state constituency 1, Prof Richard Shobayo, while declaring Oluomo as the winner, said he polled 7,546 votes to defeat his rival, Yusuf Ogundele of the PDP, who garnered 6,596.

EFCC arrests 12 in Kano, Katsina over vote-buying

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it arrested 12 persons for alleged vote-buying during Saturday’s supplementary polls in Kano and Katsina states.

The Kano zonal commander of the commission, Faruk Dogondaji, told the News Agency of Nigeria in an interview that the suspects were arrested with N1.5 million cash in Kano and Katsina states.

He said 10 suspects were arrested in Doguwa Local Government Area of Kano State and two in Kankiya of Katsina State.

Dogondaji said the suspects were arrested while attempting to induce eligible voters with cash at some polling units.

He said the 10 suspects were apprehended with N1,357,500 in Doguwa, while the two suspects were arrested with N242,000 in Kankia Local Government Area.

From Kabiru R. Anwar (Yola), Habibu Idris Gimba (Damaturu), Dickson S. Adama (Jos), Ismail Adebayo (Birnin Kebbi) , Titus Eleweke (Awka), Abubakar Auwal (Sokoto), Peter Moses (Abeokuta) & Salim Umar Ibrahim, Aminu Naganye, Zahraddeen Yakubu Shuaibu (Kano)

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