Breaking News APC Wins Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto; PDP In Akwa Ibom

The results of Saturday’s governorship elections declared so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as of 4am today showed the emergence of new…

The results of Saturday’s governorship elections declared so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as of 4am today showed the emergence of new governors in Jigawa, Sokoto and Katsina states.

The results also showed that Governors Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara) have been re-elected.

This is just as collation in other states was either suspended or ongoing as of press time.

In Gombe, INEC declared the incumbent governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner.

The returning officer, Prof. Maimuna Waziri, of the Federal University, Gashua, said Yahaya scored 342,821 votes to defeat his closest rival, Muhammad Jibril Barde, of the PDP who polled 233,131 votes.

She said Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki of the NNPP came third with 19,861 votes, while Keftin Amuga Esau of Labour Party (LP) scored 1,753 votes to come fourth.

Prof. Maimuna said there were 1,575,794 registered voters, 618,231 accredited voters, 605,355 valid votes, 11,390 rejected votes and 616,745 total votes cast.

She said Yahaya won in nine of the 11 local government areas of the state.

Daily Trust reports that Governor Yahaya is the third consecutive governor of the state to win a second term in office after his predecessors – Muhammad Danjuma Goje in 2007 and Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo in 2015.

Similarly, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq was yesterday declared by the INEC as the winner of the governorship election held on Saturday.

AbdulRazaq, who sought a second term on the ticket of the APC, won in the 16 local government areas, according to the results announced on Sunday.

He scored 273,424 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Abdullahi Shuaib Yaman, who came second with 155,490 votes.

The returning officer and vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Prof. Isaac Itodo, said total valid votes were 460,497, rejected votes, 10,274, while the total votes cast were 470,771.

Reacting to the results, the chairman of the APC, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, said the victory implied that Kwara wanted the party at the state and national levels for good governance to continue, adding that people’s expectations would not be cut short.

On his part, the PDP agent, Anu Ibiwoye, said: “We have mixed feelings given the kind of results and our expectations. But we will study the results and take it from there.”

Also, in Yobe State, Governor Mai Mala Buni was re-elected having won the highest votes in all the 17 local government areas of the state with a total of 317,113 votes. His closest challenger of the PDP, Alhaji Sharif Abdullahi, came second with 124,259 votes.