Posted by By Jacob Edi and Emmanuel Adeyemi on
Alhaji Ibrahim Idris of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was on Sunday declared winner of the Kogi State by-elections. In a result announced by the resident Electoral Commissioner, Rufus Ayodeji Adekeja, Idris scored 518,581 votes to beat his main challenger, Alhaji Abubakar Audu of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP) who polled 174,978 votes.
• Audu heads for tribunal
Alhaji Ibrahim Idris of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was on Sunday declared winner of the Kogi State by-elections. In a result announced by the resident Electoral Commissioner, Rufus Ayodeji Adekeja, Idris scored 518,581 votes to beat his main challenger, Alhaji Abubakar Audu of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP) who polled 174,978 votes.
Idris, who also won the April 14,2007 elections, in his acceptance speech, expressed gratitude to the electorate, who, by their votes, revalidated his mandate.
He lauded the efforts of the security agents for ensuring that there was peace before and during the re-run elections, emphasising that his victory was a reaffirmation of the people's confidence in him.
He pledged to rededicate himself anew towards lifting the fortunes of the state.
Idris declared: 'I am ready, more than ever before, to renew my welfare programme to all segments of the state. I promise to correct the mistakes of the past, and I use this opportunity to call on my political opponents to come along with me to move the state forward."
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) had said that he would comply with the INEC's resolution to cancel election in areas where there were confirmed cases of violence.
Accordingly, he announced that some units in Kotonkarfe, Ajaokuta, Ankpa, and Adari Local Government areas were cancelled, while results from the entire 11 wards of Okene Local Government Area suffered the same fate.
Audu has, however, rejected the results, and vowed to proceed to the governorship appeal tribunal forthwith.
He told a news conference in Lokoja, shortly after Idris was declared winner by INEC, that the election was marred by widescale irregularities.
Specifically, he alleged that there were rampant illegal thumb printing, changing of election results, and carting away of ballot boxes.
'I am comforted by the statement credited to Maurice Iwu, the INEC chairman that what he did in the 2007 guber election in Kogi State, he would re-enact again, and that surely, he has done," Audu said, adding, 'INEC flagrantly allotted our victory to the opposition party."
There was wild celebration in the streets of Lokoja after the announcement of the results.
The Advanced Democratic Congress, (ADC) and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) also rejected the results. Their spokesmen, Pastor Zacheus Jonathan and Ali Yahaya reinforced Audu's allegations of massive irregularities, widescale violence, ballot box snatching and rigging.