Category: News

The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, won the 25 February election in Imo State.

Mr Obi polled more than 70 per cent of the votes cast in the southeastern state. He polled a total of 352, 904 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 66,171 votes to emerge a distant second.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, came third with 30,004 votes while the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, garnered 1,536 votes to pick fourth position.

Apart from Mr Obi, none of the candidates scored up to 25 per cent of votes in Imo.

According to the result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a total of 476,730 voters were accredited for the election out of a total of 2,125,446 registered voters in the state.

INEC also said a total of 459,261 were valid votes while 10,424 votes were rejected out of a total of 469,685 votes cast in the election.

Imo is considered one of the strongholds of Mr Obi in the election because he (Obi) hails from the south-east region.

The LP candidate also won by landslide in Enugu, another state in the south-east, where he secured 428,640 votes – almost 90 per cent (88.7 per cent) of the votes cast in the state.

But unlike Enugu, which is controlled by a PDP governor, Imo is governed by the APC. Hope Uzodinma, the state governor, is a member of the party and a staunch supporter of Mr Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate.

(Premium Times)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has again postponed the collation of results for the 2023 presidential election at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, at 2pm on Tuesday said collation will now resume at 3:30pm. He explained that though results from five states are available, the commission expects at least 10 more states to join today’s collation.

The collation of results from state started on Sunday. Monday’s collation ended a few minutes past 10 pm and the commission had said collation would resume on Tuesday at 11am.

The INEC National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu adjourned the collation to 11am on Tuesday to enable the state collation officers for the presidential election (SCOPs) in the remaining states.

However, at 12 noon, Okoye addressed the media and said the collation has been moved to 2pm today. He later came up by 2pm and said it has been postponed to 03:30pm.

Already, results have been released for about 13 states with the top parties sharing the wins.

For Kwara, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 263,572 votes followed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 136,909 votes.

Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) polled 31,166 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) polled 3,141 votes.

In Osun, the APC polled 343,945, LP 23,283, NNPP 713, and PDP 354,366.

For Ondo, the APC polled 369,924, LP – 44,405, NNPP 930, and PDP 115,463.

Results for Gombe and Yobe states were also announced. Atiku won both states. Likewise, Obi won Enugu while Tinubu won Ogun.

Mahmood also said the collation of presidential election results will be done at four levels — first at the 8,889 wards, then at the 774 local government areas, then the SCOPs at the 36 states, and the Federal Capital Territory will submit the votes per candidate in Abuja.

The electoral chief said the collation centre will be open all day and all night with short breaks.

He also cautioned political parties to only draw their figures from INEC.

“I appeal to all political parties and media organisations to draw their figures only from the official results released by the commission as the only body constitutionally responsible for releasing official election figures,” Yakubu emphasised.

Elections for the office of the President, 360 House of Representatives and 109 Senatorial seats were held in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday and Nigerians expect the declaration of results by the electoral umpire.

Though 18 candidates are in the race, pollsters and analysts have described the contest as a four-horse race between Kwankwaso, Atiku, Tinubu, and Obi.

While Obi and Tinubu are from the southern region of the country, Kwankwaso and Atiku come from the northern part of Nigeria. The four heavyweights and strong contenders have large followings with the numerical potential of emerging as the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari whose two-term tenure ends on May 29, 2023.

Elections were held at most of the 176,606 polling units in Nigeria as 87.2 million voters with Permanent Voter Cards voted for their preferred candidates.

(Channels TV)

Chetanne Chinelo, Enugu

The Supreme Court has confirmed a former Commissioner for Environment in Enugu State, Chijioke Edeoga, as the authentic governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the state.

In a judgment delivered Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by Evarest Nnaji Odengene.

In the judgment presided over by Justice Kudirat Kekereke-Ekun, the court upheld the position of the Appeal Court that Nnaji has no locus standi to challenge the outcome of the LP governorship primary since he didn’t participate in the process.

The judgment puts to rest the controversy surrounding the ticket which has lingered for some time.

Odengene calls on supporters to be ‘responsible, law abiding…’

Reacting to the judgment of the Supreme Court, Capt. Evarest Nnaji Odengene has called on his supporters to accept the judgment of the court, while wishing Edeoga well in his endeavors.

He made this known in a press statement signed by him and sighted by our Enugu correspondent.

The statement reads in full: “I wish to express my profound appreciation to members of my governorship campaign team and all my supporters, for their unflinching support, solidarity and abiding faith in my vision for a new and better Enugu State.

“For love of our dear state, we defied all odds, went all the way and traversed all decent routes in pursuit of our dream of berthing a leadership that would usher in the Enugu state of our common dream.

“The Supreme Court has decided unfavorably on the application we brought before it, I submit to that decision. I implore my supporters to remain responsible, law abiding and also accept the judgment in good faith.

“I wish my dear brother, Barr. Chijioke Edeoga good luck in his endeavor.

“Thank you Ndi Enugu, God bless you my most cherished supporters”.

Pacesetter reports that Edeoga is yet to react to the decision of the Supreme Court.

Our correspondent sent a text message to him asking for his reaction to the judgment but he is yet to respond as at the time of this report.

Chetanne Chinelo, Enugu

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has lost his bid to represent Enugu North Senatorial District in the National Assembly.

Ugwuanyi was defeated by Okechukwu Ezea of Labour Party in the election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday.

While Ezea scored 104,948 votes to emerge the winner, Ugwuanyi came second with 46,948 votes.

Ugwuanyi who is completing his second term as the governor of Enugu State was bidding to represent the Enugu North District in the red chamber. He was a member of the House of Representatives before being elected governor in 2015.

Also, the PDP candidate for Enugu West Senatorial zone, Hon. Osita Ngwu also won the election.

Ngwu polled 52,473 votes to defeat Oguerinwa Amadi of Labour Party, who polled 48,053.

In the race for the green chambers in the state, Nnnolim Nnaji, the member representing Nkanu East/West in the House of Representatives was re-elected.

Nnaji is the only candidate of the PDP to have won the House of Representatives election. Out of the eight Federal Constituencies seat in the state, Labour Party won the remaining seats.

Peter Obi of the Labour Party has been declared the winner of the presidential election in Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous state.

Mr Obi secured 582,454 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Bola Tinubu of the APC, who scored 572, 606 votes.

Atiku Abubakar of the PDP came third with 75,750 votes.

A total of 1,347,152 people were accredited for the election in Lagos, a state where Mr Tinubu has a lot of political control and influence.

See the final scores below.

Accredited voters 1,347152

A3069

AA 498

AAC 1597

ADC 5789

ADP 2439

APC 572,606

APGA 2316

APM 709

APP 371

BP 1837

LP 582454

NNPP 8,442

LRM 609

PDP 75,750

PRP 1120

SDP 772

YPP 1109

ZLP 9964

Valid votes 1,271,451

Rejected 64,278

Total votes cast 1,335,729

The local governments won by Tinubu include Agege, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Surulere and Mushin.

Obi on the other hand won Eti-Osa, Amuwo Odofin, Ikeja, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Alimosho, Ojo and Somolu.

The final results would be announced by the Returning Officer for the state, Professor Adenike Oladiji shortly.

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has cleared the results of two Abia Local Government Areas announced Sunday in Umuahia

The affected LGAs include: Isiala Ngwa North where he polled 24, 336; and Isuikwuato, where he scored 16,038 votes.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, came a distant second in Isiala Ngwa North with 5,964 votes; and 607 respectively.

Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress, APC got 742 in Isiala Ngwa North, and 472 in Isuikwuato.

Other results are being declared.

Peter Obi wins 5 LGs in Edo 

In Edo, Obi won in five local governments.

The Edo State Collation Officer, Vice Chancellor, University of Uyo, Prof.Professor Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, has released the results of the presidential election in five Local governments in the state.

The five local governments where results were released are Igueben, Esan Central, Esan North East, Egor, Esan South East.

According to the results, Labour Party (LP) garnered 86,285 votes followed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) with 18,219 votes while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came third with 15040 votes.

Peter Obi wins in Akwa Ibom capital

The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, won Saturday’s election in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

According to the result released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Obi polled 27,534 votes to defeat the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, who scored 12, 245 votes in the local government.

The results were collated in all 11 wards in the Local Government Area.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, scored 7,769 votes to come third while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) scored 1,044 votes to secure the fourth position.

Aniekan Abasiatai, a professor and INEC returning officer for Uyo Local Government Area declared the results at the Collation Centre in Ikot Akpan Abia on Sunday Evening.

(Premium Times/Vanguard)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday said its Results Viewing Portal (IReV) has not been sabotaged or compromised, adding that the portal remains “well-secured”.

INEC Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, in a statement, said the commission is aware of the challenges with the portal, assuring Nigerians that the “outstanding problems” will be resolved as soon as possible.

Elections for the office of the President, 360 House of Representatives and 109 Senatorial seats were held in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday and Nigerians expect the declaration of results by the electoral umpire.

Many party leaders have bitterly complained that INEC officials at the polling units were unable to upload election results to the IReV. The IReV and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) are new technologies introduced by the electoral body for the accreditation and electronic transmission of votes for this year’s polls.

However, INEC Commissioner, Okoye, apologised and promised that the glitches will be resolved.

He said, “The Commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process.

“The problem is totally due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season, State elections, to one for managing nationwide general elections.”

“It is indeed not unusual for glitches to occur and be corrected in such situations. Consequently, the Commission wishes to assure Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems, and that the IReV remains well-secured.

“Our technical team is working assiduously to solve all the outstanding problems, and users of the IReV would have noticed improvements since last night.

“We also wish to assure Nigerians that results from the Polling Unitcopies of which were issued to political parties, are safe on both the BVAS and the IReV portal. These results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.

“While we fully appreciate the concerns of the public on this situation and welcome various suggestions that we have received from concerned Nigerians, it is important to avoid statements and actions that can heat up the polity at this time or promote disaffection towards the Commission.

“We take full responsibility for the problems and regret the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties and the electorate.”

(Channels TV)

Samson Abanni, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has adjourned sitting at the collation center to Monday, February 27, 2023, by 11am.

Announcing the state result for the presidential election at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Sunday, the Ekiti state Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Ayobami Salami, turned in the state’s result which had Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress leading with 201,494 votes. This was followed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who polled 89,554 votes. The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi had 11,397 votes while Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party scoring 264 votes.

The INEC Chairman stated that the reason for the adjournment was that other states were still on their way to Abuja to turn in their votes.

Mahmood Yakubu said the commission expects the results of the other 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory and moved the national collation to 11am on Monday.

More details later…

(Pacesetter)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday formally opened the 2023 presidential election collation centre at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu opened the centre and set certain ground rules for the collation of results.

“The collation centre is hereby declared open until the final announcement of the results of the 2023 presidential election,” he said.

He said the collation of presidential election results will be done at four levels — first at the 8,889 wards, then at the 774 local government areas, then the Resident Electoral Commissioners at the 36 states and the FCT will submit the votes per candidate in Abuja.

The electoral chief said the collation centre will be open all day and all night with short breaks.

He also cautioned political parties to only draw their figures from INEC and announced that collation from states will resume by 6pm.

Presidential and National Assembly elections were held in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja on Saturday.

(Channels TV)

The collation of the Presidential and National Assembly results will commence on Sunday, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has announced.

Yakubu made this announcement while addressing a press briefing on the voting process nationwide on Saturday.

The INEC Chairman said the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) worked perfectly well in most of the states across the federation, but the body experienced challenges in some parts of the country.

Yakubu added that the challenge experienced was the inability of the Commission to open the polling units by 8:30 am as agreed in a number of polling units.

(Vanguard)