INEC Declares Sanwo-Olu Winner, Kebbi Guber Poll Inconclusive

Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has officially declared Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the 2023 governorship election in Lagos state and as well declared the guber poll in Kebbi State inconclusive.

INEC’s REC in Kebbi, Professor Yusuf Saidu, declared the governorship election in the state inconclusive over what he described as irregularities which marred elections in 18 local government areas of the state

The returning officer quoted some sections from the electoral law which gave him the power to declare the results inconclusive.

Sanwo-Olu was announced the winner of Lagos Governorship election by INEC around 1 a.m on Monday, March 20.

The returning officer, Professor Oladiji Adenike, said that Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to win the election.

Rhodes-Vivour of Labour Party, LP came second with 312,329 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Jando trailed in third place with 62,449 votes.

INEC said a total of 1,182,620 voters were accredited, while 1,155,678 votes were valid.

Also, the Independent National Electoral Commission, on Sunday, declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Dapo Abiodun, winner after polling 276,298 votes.

Abiodun defeated the People’s Democratic Party governorship candidate in the state, Oladipupo Adebutu who polled 262,383 votes, and 12 other candidates.

Abiodun defeated Adebutu by 13,915 votes.

The results of the political parties, as declared by INEC, were as follows;

Accord – 724
Action Alliance – 382
African Action Congress – 2613
Action Democratic Congress – 94,753
Action Democratic Party – 2770
All Progress Congress – 276,298
Allied People Movement – 2066
Action Peoples Party – 207
New Nigeria Peoples Party – 1394
National Rescue Movement – 779
Peoples Democratic Party – 262,383
Peoples Redemption Party – 248
Social Democratic Party – 515.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission has said it would review results from Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State following the invasion of a collation centre by thugs.

This was made known on Sunday evening by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, at a press briefing on the ongoing collation of the governorship and State House of Assembly elections in Abuja.

In his speech, Okoye said, “Earlier today, the commission alerted the nation to the invasion of our Obingwa Local Government Area office in Abia state by thugs during the collation of the governorship and state assembly elections.

“In contention were the collated results from the Registration area for the governorship and state assembly elections in that local government. The intention was to force the collation of these contentious results.

“The behaviour of these thugs is unacceptable and there will be a thorough review of the results,” he said.

The Returning Officer, Professor Nnnena Otti had adjourned the collation of the state’s polls to March 20 to begin at 10a.m after announcing that other local governments were not ready yet.

Out of the 17 Local Government Areas, only 10 have submitted their results to INEC.

The Labour Party governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti had accused the PDP-led government in Abia State of attempting to compromise the March 18 governorship election in some local governments with alleged intention to announce fake results.

Speaking with newsmen on Saturday, Otti listed the local governments where manipulation of results are allegedly taking place to include Obingwa, home local government of incumbent governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Osisioma Ngwa, Aba North and Aba South where he said Labour Party won overwhelmingly.

According to him, the results uploaded so far by INEC indicates that Labour Party is winning, warning the state government against truncating the people’s will.

He alleged that BVAS machines were not used in the affected local government areas.

“They are making efforts to push fake results to the collation centre in Obingwa local government. I want to use this opportunity to call on the federal government, particularly the INEC chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu to ensure that the right thing is done in Abia State.

“INEC had indicated clearly that BVAS will be used for voting in this election and BVAS was used, I expect that any result that is not coming out from BVAS accreditation will not be accepted”, he said.

He therefore called on INEC chairman to prevail on the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Abia State and all other officials of the commission to ensure that the right thing is done.

So far, the Independent National Electoral Commission on Sunday declared Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Muhammadu Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara) the winners of Saturday’s governorship election.

The Peoples Democratic Party candidate in Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno; Dr Dikko Radda of the Katsina State All Progressives Congress and his counterpart in Jigawa State, Namadi Dammodi, emerged as the governors-elect.

APC candidate in Sokoto State governorship election, Ahmad Sokoto, similarly emerged as the governor-elect in the state, while Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum have won the 22 local government areas declared so far in the state on Sunday.