– PDP, ACN Disagree Over Result
Idris Wada of PDP polled 300,372 votes to emerge the winner of the Kogi State governorship election held on Saturday, Dec. 3.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Shamsideen Amali, returned Wada as the duly elected candidate having satisfied the requirements for the poll.
Prince Abubakar Audu of ACN secured 159, 913 votes to emerge runner up. PDP won overwhelmingly in 18 out of the 21 local governments in the state while ACN won in the remaining three local councils .
The scores show a difference of 140,459 votes between the PDP that came first and second placed ACN.
ANPP scored 9,642 votes to clinch the third position while CPC came fourth with 5,724 votes.
In all, 19 political parties presented candidates for the election.
Kogi is one of the five states where election did not hold in April because of a court judgment that elongated the tenure of the governors.
Other states are Adamawa, Bayelsa, Sokoto and Cross River states.
According to the electoral time table released by the INEC, the tenure of Gov. Ibrahim Idris of Kogi ended on Dec. 3.
Idris Wada, governor-elect after the Dec. 3 gubernatorial election in Kogi, has promised to run a transparent, open and people-oriented government.
Speaking to newsmen after his return as winner by INEC on Sunday in Lokoja, the governor-elect said he would run a government that would give all Kogi indigenes a sense of belonging.
“I will run a transparent and open government, where everybody will have a sense of belonging,” he said.
Wada added that he would also exploit the state’s natural resources “for the good of the people”.
He noted that Saturday’s election was free, fair and transparent, and urged the other contestants to join hands with him in moving the state forward.
The governor-elect stressed the need for the people to form a common front to advance the cause of the people.
He commended INEC for conducting a transparent, free and fair election in the state.
Wada then lauded the out-going governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, on his performance, saying the state had witnessed tremendous achievements in the last nine years of his administration.
The governor-elect also promised to create more job opportunities, shore up the state’s revenue profile and enhance rapid socio-economic transformation.
“All this will be in addition to attracting direct foreign investments,’’ he said
Kogi ACN on Sunday in Lokoja rejected the state governorship election results announced by INEC, with its collation centre agent, Malam Mohammed Suleiman, refusing to sign the results sheet.
INEC’s Returning Officer, Prof. Shamsudeen Amali, had earlier in the day declared Capt. Idris Wada of the PDP winner of the Dec. 3 election.
While refusing to sign the results sheet, Suleiman had insisted that ACN won the election, and alleged that thugs chased away the party’s agents at Ibaji Local Government Area.
He also cited ballot-snatching incidents and an alleged kidnapping of INEC ad hoc staff in one local government area as some of the reasons the final result was not acceptable to his party.
“The party leadership will decide the next line of action,’’ Suleiman said.
In his reaction to Suleiman’s action, Alhaji Yusuff Balarabe, the PDP agent at the collation centre, had described the election results as fantastic.
Minutes later, the ACN addressed a press conference to announce a total rejection of the results which had Wada, an aviation pilot, polling 300,372 votes.
Mr Dino Melaye, the Chief Campaign Strategist to Prince Abubakar Audu, the party’s candidate in the election, alleged that the PDP had resorted to scientific rigging.
“The results released by INEC are fallacious, malicious, fabricated, totally untrue and do not represent the wishes and aspirations of voters as expressed.
“There is no way our party can accept it,’’ he said.
The former PDP member also pointed out that there were no security personnel to man the polling units in the poll conducted across the state on Saturday.
“I also bring to your notice that policemen and women were withdrawn from most polling units in Kogi yesterday.
“This was deliberate to facilitate the electoral fraud as manifested in the results released this afternoon.
“It is shameful and disgraceful that when we are supposed to be advancing from the analogue and fraudulent ways of politicking, the PDP has shown Nigerians that rigging is endemic in it”, he said.
Melaye alleged that INEC, in collaboration with the police, gave duplicate result sheets with same serial numbers as those distributed to the polling units to the PDP.
“This way, results recorded at the polling stations were discarded while other results written on the duplicate result sheet with same serial number were announced.
“The reason for this is because when you get to court, INEC is the only witness to authenticate which result is genuine” he said.
The former House of Representatives member was however confident that “the stolen mandate will be recovered, the connivance notwithstanding’’.
While reacting to ACN’s allegations, the state PDP chairman, Hassan Salau, said it was normal for losers to complain in every contest.
He insisted that the ACN did not have the structure to contend with PDP in Kogi, and its complaints were therefore spurious.
Salau described the ACN allegation as “medicine after death” , adding “with the victory, ACN has been smoked out of Kogi”.
Wada defeated his closest rival, Audu who scored 159, 913 votes to place second in the election contested by 19 candidates.
The results showed that Wada won by a margin of 140, 459 from all votes cast in 18 of the state’s 21 local government areas
The election’s Returning Officer had said Wada emerged the overall winner, having polled the majority votes.
Amali, who is the Vice-Chancellor of Nasarawa State University, had also said only 518,949 of the 1,325,272 registered voters in the state actually came out to exercise their franchise.
He further said that a total of 484,168 votes were validly returned while 34,781 votes were invalidated.
According to him, Mr Ubolo Okpanachi of the ANPP polled 9,642 votes to emerge third while Mr James Ocholi of CPC came fourth with 5,724 votes.
Two female contestants, Mrs Aisha Audu of Justice Party and Mrs Esther Awe of Citizen Peoples Party, scored 619 and 379 votes respectively.
A former Chaplain of Aso Rock, Prof. Yusuf Obajeh who contested on the platform of APGA, scored 331 votes.
Six INEC National Commissioners and three Resident Electoral Commissioners graced the declaration of the results.
Kogi’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Ahmad Makama, expressed delight that the election was held in a transparent manner and under a peaceful atmosphere.
He attributed the success recorded to both the commission’s resolve to conduct a free and fair election and the co-operation of all stakeholders.
Kogi Governor elect Idris Wada