Saraki loses Senate seat; Buhari, Atiku in tight race

By The Rainbow
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The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Sunday became one of the major casualties of the 2019 general elections as he lost his bid to return to the Senate. Apart from Saraki, the other two senatorial candidates of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, lost to the All Progressives Congress.

Saraki lost to the Kwara Central Senatorial District candidate of the APC, Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe, in what election observers described as a major upset.

Oloriegbe polled 123, 808 votes to defeat the Senate President who scored 68, 994 votes in the four local government areas of the Kwara Central Senatorial District.

The result of the election was announced by the Senatorial District Returning Officer, Prof. Olatunbosun Owoyomi, from the University of Ilorin.

In Asa Local Government Area, Oloriegbe polled 15, 932 votes to defeat Saraki who scored 11, 252 votes.

The APC candidate also got 30, 014 votes in Ilorin East Local Government Area to 14, 654 polled by his PDP rival.

In Ilorin West, which is considered Saraki's stronghold, Oloriegbe polled 51, 531 votes to defeat the Senate President with 30, 075 votes.

The situation was the same in Ilorin South where the APC senatorial candidate floored the Senate President with 26, 331 votes as against 13, 031 votes garnered by Saraki.

The APC's candidates won the House of Representatives seats in Asa/Ilorin West and Ilorin South/Ilorin East Federal Constituencies.

In the presidential election, the APC maintained the lead in 14 out of the 15 local government areas already announced.

NAN reports that the PDP only led in Oke Ero Local Government with 6,242 votes to 6,079 votes polled by APC.

Dogara wins re-election in Bauchi
However, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has been declared the winner of Dass/Tafawa Balewa/Bogoro Federal Constituency election held on Saturday.

Dogara, who contested the seat for the fourth term was declared winner by the Collation Officer for Dass/Tafawa Balewa/Bogoro Constituency by the Prof. Mahmoud Abdulhamid.

The result was declared at the Zwall Collation Centre, in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

Dogara, who contested on the platform of the PDP polled a total of 73,609 votes to defeat his closest rival, Abubabakar Kantana of the APC who got 50,075 votes.

INEC opens collation centre, adjourns proceedings till today

Meanwhile, INEC on Sunday performed the last step in the conduct of the 2019 presidential election by opening the National Collation Centre for the collation and announcement of results.

The Chairman of INEC and Chief Returning Officer, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who performed the brief ceremony held at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, however, adjourned sitting for the collation and announcement of the presidential results till 11am today (Monday) after setting the ground rules.

Earlier during an updated press briefing, Yakubu said Ekiti State was the first state to have completed the collation of the results of presidential election and is expected to present it in Abuja.

According to him, the commission was doing everything possible to ensure the speedy collation of results and the declaration of winners of the elections conducted on Saturday.

He announced that one of its personnel in Rivers State, Mrs Ibisaki Amachree, was the first casualty of the elections.

The victim was reportedly hit by a bullet while returning from election duty from Degema, Rivers State.

While praying for the repose of her soul, the INEC chairman condemned the attacks, adding that INEC would submit a comprehensive report.

Yakubu urged security agencies to expedite investigations and prosecution of the culprits.

Buhari wins in Ekiti
Though the INEC chair did not announce the result of the election in Ekiti State, the commission's Returning Officer, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, did.

Olayinka said the standard bearer of the APC in the presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari, scored 219,231 votes in Ekiti State while the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the state, scored 154,032.

The total valid votes in the poll, he said, were 381,132, rejected votes 12,577, while total votes were 393, 709.

Atiku leads in Ondo, wins 12 LGs, APC 6
However, Atiku is leading in Ondo State after winning 12 out of the 23 local government areas released by INEC as of the time of filing this report.

The INEC Returning Officer in the state, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, on Sunday said the PDP candidate won in nine out of 15 local government areas of the state while Buhari won in six.

According to INEC, the local government areas won by the PDP included Idanre, Ondo East, Ose, Ifedore , Akure North and Ile Oluji /Oke Igbo, Irele and Okitipupa Local Government Areas.

However, the APC candidate won in Akoko South-East, Akoko South-West, Akoko North-East, Akoko North-West, Owo and Odigbo Local Government Areas.

Similarly, the senator representing the Ondo North Senatorial District, Ajayi Boroffice, was declared winner of the senatorial election in the district by INEC.

The two-term senator of the APC won the election by polling 53,199, defeating the candidates of the PDP and the Action Alliance, who scored, 34, 490 and 43,100 votes respectively.

INEC declared the Ondo South Senatorial District poll inconclusive. The PDP won the Ondo Central senatorial seat.

Buhari, Atiku share 2 LGAs in Benue
In Benue State, Buhari scored 12,197 votes in Tarka Local Government Area to floor Atiku who had 4,875 votes.

Announcing the results on Sunday in Makurdi, the INEC Collation Officer for the election in Tarka Local Government Area, Prof. Simon Ejembi, said the local government area had 10 registration areas with 50,180 registered voters.

Also announcing the result of the presidential poll for Ado Local Government Area of Benue State, the collation officer, Prof. Idugba Echi, said the PDP candidate polled 8,614 to defeat Buhari, who polled 5,373 votes.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported that the results of the presidential poll in 21 other local government areas were being awaited.

Buhari in early lead in Katsina
Expectedly in Katsina State where Buhari hails from, the APC presidential candidate cleared all the three local governments declared so far by INEC.

The local councils are Daura, Matazu and Ingawa.
In Daura LG, Dr Abdu Yau of the Federal University, Dutsinma, who is the collation officer, said the APC polled 37,648 to defeat the PDP candidate who had 4,650 votes.

None of the remaining political parties that participated in the election scored up to 10 votes.

The Collation Officer for Matazu council, Dr Christopher Ndabula, also of FUDMA, said the APC scored 27,625 votes, while the PDP polled 9,151 votes.

He put the total votes cast in the council at 37,297 while 567 votes were rejected.

In Ingawa Local Government Area, Buhari won with 29,230 votes, while Atiku who came second polled 7,625 votes.

The collation officer for the council, Dr Suleiman Hassan, who announced the results, put the total votes cast in the council at 39,025.

INEC Chief Returning Officer for Katsina State, Prof. Fatimah Mukhtar, was still supervising the announcement of the presidential election result as of the time of filing this report.

Buhari wins seven of nine Borno LGs
Buhari has also won seven of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno State, as election result collation is progressing in the state.

The exercise, presided over by the state's Presidential Returning Officer, Prof. Saminu Abdulrahaman, said Buhari scored the highest votes cast in seven of the 27 local government areas as indicated in the results so far submitted for collation by the returning officers of the councils.

The councils were Nganzai, Mobbar, Dikwa, Abadam, Guzamala, Gubio and Magumeri.

The presidential election results so far collated indicated that Buhari was taking the lead against Atiku, his closest opponent.

The results as announced by the Returning Officer in charge of Nganzai, Dr A. Fusami, showed that the APC candidate scored 6, 804 as against the 975 votes scored by the PDP's candidate.

In Mobbar, Baba Shehu, the Returning Officer, declared that Buhari polled 13, 122 votes while Atiku scored 280 votes.

For Dikwa; the Returning Officer, Dr. J. Ibrahim, disclosed that the APC candidate scored 17, 805 against the 100 votes scored by the PDP candidate.

Dr Ahmed Musa, the Returning Officer in charge of Abadam, said the APC candidate polled 5, 907 while the PDP candidate got 270 votes.

The Returning Officer in charge of Guzamala, Dr Zarma Alhaji, announced that Buhari polled 5, 370 votes against the 521 votes scored by Atiku.

Also, Dr Kachalla Mohammed, the Returning Officer in charge of Gubio, declared that the APC candidate polled 10, 207 votes while the PDP standard bearer got 510 votes.

Dr Babagana Gambo, the Returning Officer in charge of Magumeri, announced that Buhari polled 12, 739 against the 694 votes scored by Atiku.

Buhari leads in 7 out of 9 announced LGAs results in Gombe

Buhari is leading Atiku in Gombe State, according to the results of nine Local Government Areas announced on Sunday.

Gombe is a PDP state being governed by Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, who is running for the Senate on the PDP platform.

The results of Saturday's presidential and National Assembly elections received in Gombe, show that the APC is ahead of the PDP in seven of the nine LGAs in results announced.

NAN reported that the collation was being presided over by Prof. Kyari Mohammed, Vice Chancellor, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola.

The presidential election results from Gombe LGA showed that the APC polled 86, 162 votes, while PDP scored 7,634 votes.

In Nafada LGA, the APC scored 15, 417 votes while the PDP scored 5, 792 votes.

In Yamaltu-Deba LGA, the APC scored 56, 157 votes to defeat the PDP which scored 13, 248 votes.

In Dukku LGA, the APC scored 36, 010 votes against PDP's 7,435 while in Kwami LGA, the APC polled 36, 317 to beat the PDP which had 6,614 votes.

In Balanga LGA, the APC scored 29, 647 to defeat PDP which had 14, 614 while in Kaltungo LGA, the APC scored 20, 944 against PDP's 20, 733.

However, the PDP defeated the APC in Shongom and Billiri LGAs.

In Shongom LGA, the PDP scored 12, 871 votes against APC's 9, 642 while in Billiri LGA, the APC scored 15, 331 votes while the PDP scored 21, 328 votes.

Buhari leads in 13 Kano LGs
Buhari is leading in 13 local government areas released so far in Kano.

Buhari secured an early lead in the number of votes collated and announced by INEC.

Buhari swept all 13 local government areas announced as of 8pm on Sunday.

Even though Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso who is one of the Directors of the PDP Presidential Campaign secured his polling unit by ensuring that Atiku won with 278 votes to Buhari's 215, he could not prevent Atiku's loss to Buhari, in Madobi, his local government area.

The APC won the area by polling 26,110 votes almost double the 13,113 votes the PDP candidate got after the final tally.

The INEC collation officer for the presidential election in charge of the local government, Dr Sani Umar, while presenting the results at the Kano State INEC collation centre, gave the total number of registered voters as 84,067 out of which 40,764 were accredited to vote.

The total number of votes cast was 40,286 out of which 39,524 were valid and 762 were rejected.

Governor Umar Ganduje was able to secure victory for Buhari in his ward and his Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area.

While giving a breakdown of the results in the area, the INEC collation officer for the local government, Dr Musa Muhammad, announced that Buhari polled 19,984 as against Atiku's 7,732 votes.

He said, “The total number of registered voters is 101,254, those accredited to vote were: 61,144. The APC received 37,417 and the PDP got 6,507; valid votes were 45,056 while rejected votes were 2, 306. The total votes cast, 47,362.”

The collation officer for Garun-Malam Local Government Area, Dr Umar Abdulkadir, announced that the APC presidential candidate received 23,810 votes while the PDP got 4,861 votes.

Number of accredited voters stood at 31,641. There were 29,004 valid votes and 1,982 votes were cancelled. The total number of votes cast was 30,986.

In Rimin Gado Local Government Area, the collation officer, Prof. Ibrahim Sa'ad, announced that 63,347 persons registered to vote out of which 32,878 were accredited. Of this number, APC got 20,589 votes while PDP received 10,035. The total of votes cast stood at 32,343 while 31,472 votes were valid, 871 were rejected.

In Tofa Local Government Area, the INEC collation officer, Dr Murtala Badamasi, gave the number of registered voters as 71,348 out of which 30,227 were accredited to vote. Of this number, the APC got 19,984 votes while the PDP got 7,732. Total number of votes cast, 29,753, valid votes cast was 28,101, rejected votes 1,652

The collation officer for Kunchi Local Government, Prof. Saminu Bala, said 58,334 registered to vote, 27,281 were accredited to vote. Of this number, the APC got 20,375 while the PDP got 4,983. The total number of votes cast stood at 26,895 of which 25,753, were valid while 1,142 were rejected.

For Bagwai Local Government, the collation officer, Prof. Abdulrasheed Jibya, said the number of registered voters was 89,134 out of which 36,929 were accredited to vote. At the end of voting, the APC got 23,375 while the PDP got 10,584. Total number of votes cast stood at 35,697, valid votes 34,697, rejected votes, 1,096.

In Gabasawa Local Government Area, the INEC collation officer, Prof. Mustapha Muktar, said 78,627 people registered to vote; those accredited were 32,847 out of this number, the APC secured 24,420 while the PDP went away with 6,130. Total number of votes cast, 32,440, valid votes 31,106, rejected 1,334.

The collation officer for Bunkure Local Government, Prof. Hafiz Yakasai, said 89,616 persons registered to vote, 39,803 were accredited. The APC got 27, 232 while the PDP got 9,528. Total votes cast, 38,970, valid votes, 37,318 while 1,652 were rejected.

In Karaye Local Government, the INEC collation officer, Mohammed Isa, said 33,243 were accredited to vote; APC got 23,023, PDP got 8,265, valid votes, 31,923, rejected votes 962.

PDP wins Osun East senatorial seat, two Rep seats

PDP's Prince Francis Fadahunsi has been declared the winner of Osun East Senatorial election, defeating Hon Ajibola Famurewa of the APC.

According to the result of the poll as announced by the Returning Officer, Prof. Adegbehingbe Oladiran, Fadahunsi polled 115,893 votes to defeat Famurewa, who got 105,720 votes.

The PDP candidate Mr. Ajilesoro Abimbola, has been declared the winner of Ife Central/Ife North/Ife South and Ife East Federal Constituency election.

Ajilesoro was returned elected after garnering 52,801 votes to beat the APC candidate, Oladoyin Folorunsho, who got 46,373 votes.

The INEC's Returning Officer, Prof. Suraju Ajadi, announced the results at Oluorogbo Government Middle Schools, Road 7, Ile-Ife on Sunday evening.

Similarly, Mr Bamidele Salam of the PDP was declared the winner of the Ede Federal Constituency poll.

The Returning Officer, Prof Adeniyi Adewusi, said Salam got 46,994 votes to defeat APC's Adejare Bello, who got 44,866 votes.

Buhari leads Atiku in Oyo, Ajimobi loses four councils to PDP

Meanwhile, Buhari, is leading Atiku based on the total number of votes from 17 local government areas of the state released so far by INEC.

While the APC polled 190,940, the PDP scored 176,101. But the PDP is leading in 11 local governments, while the APC leads in six local government areas.

The PDP candidate won in Afijio, Saki East, Kajola, Ibarapa North, Ibarapa East, Itesiwaju, Iwajowa, Ibadan Northwest, Olorunsogo, Ona Ara and Ibadan North while the APC won in Irepo, Egbeda, Oluyole, Saki West, Iseyin and Atisbo local government areas as of 10pm when this report was filed.

The Collation Officer for Egbeda Local Government Area, Prof. Olajide Fashola, said some thugs came with guns and hijacked a lot of election materials, card readers and ballot boxes around 5.30pm on Saturday.

Fashola said there was no victim among the INEC officials in the area. He said quick intervention of security officials put the situation under control.

Meanwhile, the candidate of the APC in the Oyo South Senatorial District, Abiola Ajimobi, has lost in four of the six local government areas declared so far by INEC.

The state governor lost to his rival, Dr Kola Balogun of the PDP.

As of the time of filing this report, results announced by the Collation Officer for the poll, Prof Kolawole Akinsola, the PDP floored the APC in four local governments.

In the Ibadan North-West LGA, PDP polled 12,144 votes, beating APC and African Democratic Party which recorded 8,916 votes and 5,819 respectively. PDP also won in Ibadan North with 18,690 ahead of the APC which scored 17,947 while ADC came third with 10,202 votes.

In Ibarapa North, the PDP recorded 8,083 votes to edge out the APC which polled 5,837 while ADC gathered 2,536 votes. The PDP equally emerged winner in Ibarapa East with 9,982 votes, beating APC to second position with 6,951 votes while ADC secured 3,670.

However, APC won in the Ido and Ibarapa Central LGAs. In Ido, APC polled 8,108 votes to beat PDP, which recorded 8,108 votes to come second. ADC came third with 5,265 votes. The APC got 7,147 votes in Ibarapa Central, winning PDP and ADC which polled 6,577 and 1,475 respectively.

The results of the three remaining local government areas that constitute the senatorial districts were being awaited as of the time of filing this report.

Source: https://punchng.com/saraki-loses-buhari-atiku-in-tight-race/