Shinkafi loses to son in-law, Uduaghan, Suntai winParties reject results, candidates rule out court actionINEC urges patience over Imo pollsAMID tight security, the rescheduled gubernatorial and Houses of Assembly elections in Bauchi and Kaduna states went on yesterday without any major incident.However, both states witness a low turnout of voters who apparently stayed away from the polling units following last weeks post-election mayhem in the areas.Vice President Namadi Sambo, who voted at Camp Road Ward in Kaduna, said the Federal Government would ensure that those behind the post-election violence were punished, no matter how highly placed.Meanwhile, as Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, Jonah Jang (Plateau) and Danbaba Suntai of Taraba State secured another term to steer the affairs of their states for another four years, the opposition parties, whose candidates were defeated, have rejected the polls results.There was a major upset in Zamfara State where Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was defeated by his son in-law, Alhaji Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). Yari polled 514,962 votes to the 460,656 votes secured by Shinkafi.Yari scored the highest votes in seven local councils of the state in addition to securing more than 25 per cent in 13 of the 14 local councils of the state.The Vice President, who cast his ballot at 1.24 p.m. alongside his wife, said: We thank God that we are having the final round of election today and it is very peaceful, everything is going very calm.I will like to seize this opportunity to thank all Nigerians for voting for us during the last presidential election and I am assuring Nigerians that we will not fail them. I will also like to use this opportunity to extend my sympathy and condolences to the victims of last violence and I pray that Almighty Allah will grant us peace in this country.I want to assure Nigerians that all those found wanting in the crisis will not be left free; they will be treated in accordance with the law of this country. And this administration will not seat back and allow people to take law into their hands. Very soon investigation will be carried out on the crisis and proper and responsible action will be taken to ensure that government does the right thing.We are putting all necessary measures on ground to ensure that this sad experience does not occur again.But the Vice President again lost his Camp Road polling unit in Kaduna to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in yesterdays gubernatorial election.The result of the polling unit declared by INEC officials after the polls showed that the CPC scored 247 votes; PDP, 148; and ACN, 4 votes.Security was tight in Kaduna metropolis and Zaria with armed soldiers and policemen deployed to major roads, streets and flashpoints.Few voters turned up for accreditation at 8 a.m. in Sabo, Barnawa, Tudun Wada, Narayi, Angwar Romi and Samaru areas of Kaduna. The accredited voters went home and came back to cast their votes after 12.30p.m.However, the turnout in the southern part of the state was impressive in comparison with the northern part. For instance, at the Matari Local Government Area Primary School where there were many polling units, one of the units there had 1,953 registered voters, over 700 had been accredited as at 10.30 a.m.In the northern part of the state, many voters reportedly disenfranchised themselves by burning their voters card shortly after the Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari lost in the just-concluded presidential election.In Zaria, Birnin Gwari and Kafanchan, voting began peacefully with stern looking and battle-ready security agents watching movement of people at the various polling units.A good presence of women were noticed on queues in Rigasa, Askolaye, Unguwar Sanusi, Tundun, Unguwar Rimi and many other areas of Kaduna awaiting their turn to cast their votes.However, some voters at Narayi Bus-Stop Polling Unit complained of intimidation by security agents.Reacting to the conduct of the election in the state, former Governor Balarabe Musa said the government has just succeeded in using the tensed security situation in the state to disenfranchised voters in this election.Musa, who is also the governorship candidate of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) added: You can see that there is voter apathy all over caused by tensed security presence. This situation can now be used to rig this election by the government.In Bauchi, heavily armed security personnel patrolled all polling units in the state capital, even as security helicopter was seen hovering the sky providing additional security.Soldiers and other security agents manned major roads in the state capital amidst tension as voting went on peacefully. The voters were seen casting their votes in an orderly manner while in many polling units, voting ended as early as 3 in the afternoon.Governor Isa Yuguda, who fielded questions from reporters in Bauchi shortly after casting his vote at Baba Sidi Primary School on Ran road under heavy security, appealed to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members who fled the state following the post-electoral violence to return to Bauchi.According to him, he had a similar experience in 1979 when he was serving in Ibadan, Oyo State during the Second Republic when President Shehu Shagari was elected.His words: I urged them not to see what happened to their colleagues as the impression of the state. It is only a few groups of people that unleashed violence on innocent citizens and most of them were imported from neighbouring states as well as Niger Republic.The governor assured that several measures had been put in place to ensure safety of the corps members, stressing that they should see the service year as sacrifice to the country.Meanwhile, the main opposition party in Bauchi State, the CPC, has alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state intimidated and chased away its supporters from some polling units during yesterdays election.A CPC chieftain in the state, Aliyu Saidu, alleged that ballot boxes were stuffed with pre-thumb-printed ballot papers during the polls.In Birnin Gwari Local Council of Kaduna, Emir of Birnin Gwari, Malam Zubairu Jubril, after casting his vote, urged people of the area to eschew violence that might cripple the development of the area.He also called on the government to provide a conducive atmosphere for peaceful coexistence among different ethnic groups and religions in the state.Jubril also called for massive job creation for the populace, especially youths, in order to engage them for the states development.In Kagoma, Jemaa Local Council, voting began with women forming the largest percentage of voters.However, more than 96 of the 175 corps members deployed to Jemaa Council for the exercise absconded for fear of their lives.The electoral officer in the council, Awwal Mohammed, said the commission replaced them with ad hoc staff, comprising trained students and INEC members of staff.At the INEC office in Gusau, the Returning Officer, who is also the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Idris Isa Funtua, described the election as peaceful.He said: I, Prof. Idris Isa Funtua, the returning officer of the Zamfara State governorship election hereby declare that Alhaji Abdualaziz Abubakar Yari of the ANPP, having met all the requirements and scoring the highest votes in Tuesday governorship election is hereby declared as the governor-elect for Zamfara State.On the state Assembly polls, the ANPP won 13 seats while the PDP got 11 seats.Shinkafi yesterday congratulated Yari over his victory in the election.In a special broadcast to the people at his private residence in Gusau, he prayed that the outcome of the election should lead to peace, stability and prosperity across the state.His words: I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the governor-elect, Alhaji Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari and all those who won various elective posts in the state from the side of both the PDP and ANPP.Meanwhile, INEC has appealed to the electorate in Imo State to be patient as it investigates the circumstances leading to the governorship election from being inconclusive.The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr. Kayode Idowu, in a statement yesterday, said in view of the difficulties experienced with the April 26, 2011 governorship and state assembly election in Imo State, which made the Returning Officer to declare the election inconclusive, the commission had consulted with its lawyers for advice on the next line of action.The Commission is scheduled to meet tomorrow (today), Friday, April 29, 2011 to take a final decision. INEC hereby urges everyone concerned to be patient and await further directives, which will be communicated as soon as a decision is taken. The commission also urges everyone to be peaceful and avoid taking the laws into their hands.The commission, once again, reiterates its resolve to ensure the highest level of integrity and credibility for the electoral process and hereby solicits the cooperation of all stakeholders.Also, former Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, has emerged the winner of Gombe State governorship election under the umbrella of the PDP. He promised to promote justice, equity, and peaceful co-existence among the people irrespective of their political and religious inclinations.Dankwambo described his victory was the triumph of the peoples will and called on his rivals and their loyalists to support him towards building a virile state.And citing prolonged litigation and waste of resources, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) governorship candidate, Ahmed Yusuf and his All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) counterpart in Taraba State, Hamidu Suleiman, have ruled out the idea of seeking invalidation of Suntais victory at the election tribunal.Also, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in Niger State, Abubakar Bawa Bwari, has said he would not contest the victory of Governor Babangida Aliyu at the electoral tribunal, declaring that he has accepted the outcome of the polls in good faith.Yusuf said yesterday in Jalingo that going to court would amount to naught as the acclaimed winner of the election, according to him, would use the massive resources of the state to purse the case in court.Similarly, he said he decided to drop the election tribunal option because everything is in Gods hand.To emerge the winner of the Delta election, Uduaghan got 525,793 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Chief Great Ogboru of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), who had 433,834 votes.Chief Ovie Omo-Agege of the ACN polled 15,526 votes.The Returning Officer, Prof. Abhuliemen Anao, who announced the result at about 10:10 a.m yesterday, said Uduaghan scored a minimum of 25 per cent of votes cast in 21 of the 25 local councils in the state.While agents of the other political parties signed the result sheet, the DPP agent, Mr. Fred Olokor, declined, saying the result was unacceptable to his party.In the close contest, the PDP secured majority votes in 13 council areas while DPP won in 12 councils.Uduaghan got the highest votes in Warri South Local Council, polling 65,508 as against the 22,585 votes recorded by the DPP.Ogboru got the highest votes of 54,611 in Ethiope East Local Council.In the House of Assembly polls, of the 21 of the 29 seats released by INEC, the PDP got 13 seats, DPP seven, and ACN one.For the rescheduled six House of Representatives election in the state, Nicholas Mutu, Ndudi Elumelu and Leo Ogor, all PDP candidates, were re-elected to represent Bomadi/Patani, Aniocha/Oshimili and Isoko constituencies in that order.The PDPs Evelyn Ojakovo won the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie ticket, Chief Sunny Emeyese, also of the PDP was elected to represent Ethiope constituency, while the Ndokwa/Ukwuani seat went to Dr. Olisa Imegwu of DPP.The Taraba governorship result, which was announced at 4 a.m. yesterday, showed that the PDP got 361,176, CPC 176,342 and ACN 154,665Addressing journalists after he was declared the winner, Suntai asked the people irrespective of their political parties, ethnic and religion affiliations to support him to develop the state.He said: I pledge to do everything humanly possible to contribute my own quota for the development of Taraba State. So, I am calling on all the people of our state to come together for us to move the state forward.The ACN in the state has however intensified its clamour for the cancellation of the governorship and National Assembly elections over what it described as open irregularities.The partys state Secretary, DanAzumi Gani, told The Guardian that the electorate were induced with the money even at the polling units, an action, he noted violated the Electoral Act.Gani also alleged that commissioners and other senior government officials moved from one polling units to another with armed security personnel threatening voters to vote for PDP or would be arrested.Dankwambo said all his opponents are equally competent to govern the state but advised them to accept the outcome of the election, adding if they failed in this dispensation, they could succeed next time.Announcing the result yesterday in Gombe, the Returning Officer, Prof. Yaganami Karta said Dankwambo won with 596, 481, trailed by Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu of the CPC, who scored 91, 781 votes and Senator Saidu Umar Kumo of the ANPP, who received 84, 959 votes.He said Kiloyobas Kere of the Labour Party (LP) got 3, 731, Sadiq Umar Abubakar of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP) had 2,856, and Jafar Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) scored 585 votes.Announcing the result of Gombe North senatorial election, the Returning Officer, Ishaya Dauda Marama, said the incumbent Senator, Saidu Ahmed Alkali of the PDP emerged the winner by polling 136, 850 to beat his opponents, Muazu Umar Babagoro of the CPC, who scored 81, 519 and Abdullahi Saad Abubakar of the ANPP, who got 36, 427 votes.At a press conference in Minna yesterday shortly after INEC declared Aliyu as the winner, Bwari said he lost the election before the contest because of a propaganda by a foreign media that he had stepped down for the CCPC candidate, Alhaji Ibrahim Bako Shettima 24 hours to the election.He insisted that the confusion, which the rumour created among his supporters, affected the outcome of the election, adding that we were already defeated before the election proper.Meanwhile the three major opposition parties in Niger yesterday rejected the results of the governorship and House of Assembly elections, alleging that the polls were fraught with cases of election malpractices.In a two-page joint statement, the Chairman of the ANPP, Hajiya Jummai Mohammed, CPCs Umaru Shuaibu and Aminu Bello, representative of ACN alleged among others, financial inducement of voters.The statement tilted: Rejection of the April 26, 2011 gubernatorial, National and State Assemblies Elections Results in Niger State by CPC, ACN and ANPP, the parties alleged that the ruling party and INEC made positive change of inept and corrupt governments impossible.They cited the inability of the government, INEC and security agencies to heed to their call for the lifting of the curfew imposed on the state after the presidential election, as well as their complaints of the use of force by the security agencies to disperse voters in various polling units across the state.
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