Election free and fair, says WadaEVEN in retirement, Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada has continued to show ability to fly, at least in the political firmament. This, he exhibited, at the Kogi State governorship election held at the weekend that led to his declaration as winner of the polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).At the end of collation of votes which ended at exactly 1.00 p.m. yesterday, Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was said to have polled 300,372 votes to beat his nearest rival, Prince Abubakar Auduof the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) who polled 159,913 to a distant second position.Meanwhile, mixed reactions have begun to trail the conduct of the polls. While some individuals and groups commended the exercise others have condemned it. The ACN agent at the collation centre, at the premises of the INEC in Lokoja, the state capital, Mohammed Lawal, promptly disputed results in some local councils. Lawal's criticism of the exercise, notwithstanding, Wada, President Goodluck Jonathan and the Senate President, David Mark, lauded it.The ACN in Kogi State on which platform the former governor, Audu, contested has rejected the result of the election.Speaking on behalf of Audu with newsmen just as INEC was releasing the official result, the Chief Strategist, Audu Campaign Organisation, Dino Melaye, said the outcome announced was manipulated and that as such, the ACN is poised to seek legal means to reverse the result if not cancelled.The result, which was declared by the former Vice Chancellor (VC), University of Ilorin and serving Vice Chancellor, Nasarawa State University, Prof. Shamsudeen Amali who is the Chief Returning Officer, Kogi State Governorship Election, announced that Audu of the ACN recorded 159,912 votes to come second and that Wada of the PDP received 300,372 votes to win the election.He described the result as 'Satanic', claiming that it does not reflect the aspirations of the people of the state.Dino alleged 'scientific rigging', which he described as 'rigging without violence'.'It is pathetic, painful and disheartening that the PDP has graduated from the use of thugs, police, military and other forms of intimidation to 'scientific rigging'. The result announced does not represent the true pattern of votes cast yesterday (Saturday). Seven units were cancelled in Olamaboro because we won there.'A breakdown of the election results collatedfrom the 21 local councilsshowed that Wadaemerged victorious in 18of the 21 councils, whilethe ACN candidate, Audu,won in three councils. Wada defeatedhis 18 other opponents in all the seven councils in Kogi West, including Yagba West, Yagba East, Mopamuro, Ijumu, Kabbabunu, Lokoja and Kotonkarfe. The PDPcandidate also led comfortably in four of the five councils in Kogi Central, including Ogorimagongo, Okene, Okehi and Ajaokuta.Audu, however, won in the remaining Adavi Council.In Kogi East, Wada led in Dekina, Ankpa, Idah, Igalamela/Odolu, Ibaji, Bassa and Omala. Audu won in two others, Ofu, his homestead and Olamaboro, bringing the number ofcouncils won by the ACN candidate to three.The Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Shamsudeen Amali said Wada satisfied the requirements of the lawand scored the majority of votes and 'is hereby declared winner of the election.'The election, according to the various local council returning officers, was generally peaceful and hitch-free.Although there were reported cases of snatching of ballot boxes and kidnapping of INEC officials in Lokoja as well as irregularities in Ibaji, Prof. Amalisaid the irregularitieswereisolated cases that did not substantiallyinfluencethe outcome of the election.The votes recorded by the various candidates and theirparties are as follows: Accord Party, 1,102; ACN 159,913; ALP 589; ANPP 9,642; APGA 331; CPC 5,724; CPP 379; JP 619; LP 216; ND 112; NDP 226; NTP 202; PAC 2,047; PDC 661; PDP 300,372; PPA 1,130; PPN 253; SDMP 452; and UNPP 198.The total valid votes stood at 484,168. Total votes cast were 518,949 out of which34,781were voided.A breakdown of theresults as announced by therespective returning officersfrom the various local council coalition centres shows that inOkene: PDP scored 35,593;ACN 7368; Accord 17;ALP 13; ANPP 1,802; APGA 34; CPC 219; CPP 7; JP 51; LP 7; ND 7; NDP 8; NTP 6; PAC 11; PDP 9; PDP 35, 593; PPN 9; SDMP 31; and UNPP 17.In Kabbabunu: PDP scored 10,505; ACN 6,678; APGA 09; CPC 171; CPC 171; CPP 27;JP 08; LP 11; ND 07; NDP 10; PPN 08; SDMP 04; UNPP 09; and PDC 27 while in Bassa: PDP scored 14,675; ACN 7,371; ALP 24; ANPP 291; APGA 19; CPC 441; LP 08; ND 07; NDP 05; NTP 10; PDC 24;PPA 53; PPN 07 just as in Lokoja: PDP scored 21,856; ACN 13,194; ALP 25; ANPP 570; APGA 22; CPC 350; CPC 32; LP 18; ND 12; NDP 07; NTP 09; PAC 63; PDC 87; and UNPP 07.Also in Olamaboro: PDP scored 8,401; ACN10, 209, ANPP 203; APGA 15; CPC 551; CPC 47; JP 54; LP 17; ND 08; NDP 25; NTP 17; PAC 210; PDC 75; PPA 103; PPN 20; SDMP 27; and UNPPN 15, while in Ibaji: PDP recorded 32,102; ACN 8,502; Accod 26; ALP 21; ANPP 317; APGA 12; CPC 385; CPP 10; JP 05; LP 13; NDP 07; PDP 22,048; PPA 34; PPN 06; SDMP 04; UNPP 03.The breakdown further shows that in Dekina: Accord scored 195; ACN 15,766; ALP 88; ANPP 608; APGA 58; CPC 1,231; CPP 60; JP 55; LP 41; ND 13; NDP 41; NTP 21; PAC 377; PDC 102; PPA 207; SDMP 38; PPN 41; UNPP 29.In Idah, PDP had 9,683 and ACN 5,766.The results from Yagba East show that PDP had 7,818 while ACN had 4,160.In Igalamela: PDP scored 14,316 and ACN 5,886. In Ijumu: PDP had 8,363 while ACN scored 5, 903, and in Yagba West, PDP scored 7,758 to beat ACN with 4,342.The other results show that in Omala, PDP had 7,507 votes; ACN 3,259. In Koton Karfe, PDP had 9,896. In Okehi, PDP scored 18,035 as ACN got 6,602. From Ajaokuta, the results show PDP scored 10,644 and ACN 3,129. In Mopamuro, PDP had 5,933 while ACN had 1,422. And in Ogorimagongo, PDP was said to have scored 3,108 while ACN recorded 1, 066 votes.But Lawal, while speaking to The Guardian at the collation centre, said his party had identified inconsistencies in the collation of results, especially in five local councils of Ajaokuta, Okene, Ibaji, Olamaboro and Idah. He said he refused to append his signature to the results from the five local councils because he was not satisfied with them.Justifying his position, especially with regard to Ajaokuta where the ACN agent refused to sign the result, Lawal said the first result that was calculated was in favour of his party. As regards Okene, he claimed the number of ballot papers was increased. According to him, the ballot papers officially sent to Okene were 116,000, but going by the submission of the returning officer, the ballot papers they saw were 119,000, leaving a difference of about 3,000.'Besides, from what we monitored on the electronic media, we discovered that there was a low turn out in Okene, but to our dismay, the PDP came out with over 35,000 votes as against our own 10,000 votes,' he said.Wada has, however, described the election as free and fair. At a world press conference in Lokoja, he said 'now is time for all stakeholders to join hands to develop Kogi State.'He congratulated candidates of other parties in the race and expressed willingness to cross pollinate ideas with them, promising pragmatic governance that will involve wide consultation, pragmatism and fairness to all.In a statement, Mark congratulated Wada, urging him to immediately embark on intra-and inter-party reconciliation in order to bring everybody on board.Officials of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) commended members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who participated in the election. The NBA said the corps members displayed exemplary behaviour and did not allow the events of the past, when some of their colleagues lost their lives, to dissuade them from serving and contributing their quota to the development of the electoral process.In an interim report issued by its Election Working Group (EWG), the NBA equally commended INEC over what the lawyers described as improvements recorded in the course of the election, including timely distribution of electoral materials and the conduct of electoral officials.Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman representing Kogi Central on the platform of PDP thanked the people of his constituency for giving their votes to the PDP.
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