The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared incumbent governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, as winner of the governorship poll held in the state on Saturday, March 9.
Announcing the result in Kaduna on Monday, the state collation officer, Prof. Muhammed Bello, the state collation officer said El-Rufai of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled a total votes of 1, 045, 427 votes while his rival, Mr. Isa Ashiru of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) got 814, 168 votes.
“That Nasir El-Rufai of the APC having satisfied the requirements of the law and having scored the highest number of votes is hereby returned and elected,” said Bello.
Distribution of the votes indicates that El-Rufai won in 14 local governments areas while Ashiru won in nine.
Already, the PDP had threatened to reject the election result if it is ‘against the wish of the people.
In a press conference on Monday, the chairman of the party, Mr. Felix Hyat, alleged irregularities and rigging in the Saturday election.
In Katsina State, the governor, Mr. Aminu Bello Masari of the APC was re-elected.
INEC returning officer for the governorship election in the state, Prof. Abdullahi Abdulmuminu said Masari polled 1,178,864 votes to emerge as the winner of the exercise while his PDP counterpart, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke polled 488,621 votes to emerge as the first runner-up in the election.
Masari won with a wide margin to defeat sixteen other candidates that contested along with him.
From the official results declared in all the 34 local government areas in the state, Masari won in all local councils of the state and defeated Danmarke with a margin of 690,234 votes.
In Cross River State, INEC declared the incumbent governor, Prof. Ben Ayade of the PDP as winner of the governorship election.
Ayade polled a total of 381,484 votes to defeat Senator John Owan-Enoh of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who got 131,161 votes while Mr. Eyo Ekpo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) came a distant third with only 4,818 votes.
Announcing Ayade as winner, Prof. Akii Ibhadode, returning officer for the governorship election in the state said: “That Ben Ayade, having scored the required number of lawful votes is hereby declared winner of the election.”
In Enugu State the PDP candidate and incumbent governor, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was re-elected for another four-year term.
Announcing the results of the election in Awka, INEC returning officer and vice chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof. Joseph Ebere Ahaneku declared that Ugwuanyi had 449,935 votes to beat his APC rival, Senator Ayogu Eze who scored 10,423 votes
In Gombe State, the APC candidate, Mr. Inuwa Yahaya was declared the winner.
He polled a total of 364,179 votes to beat the PDP flag bearer, Senator Bayero Nafada who got 222, 868 votes
The PDP is the current governing party in the state.
According to the state returning officer and vice-chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Prof. Saminu Ibrahim, Gombe state has 1,394,386 registered voters.
Of that number, 627,451 voters were accredited while the total votes cast was 623,230.
Ibrahim announced that the total valid votes were 608,846 while a total of 14,384 votes were rejected.
INEC also announced Prof. Babagana Zulum of the APC as the winner of the governorship election in Borno State.
Declaring the result, the INEC returning officer, Prof. Alhassan Gani, said Zulum polled 1,175, 440 votes to beat his closest opponent, Mr. Muhammad Imam of the PDP who scored 66, 115 votes.
Gani announced that INEC had registered 2,316,218 voters in the state, out of which 1,292,138 voters were accredited for the election.
He disclosed that a total of 1,289,027 votes were cast, out of which the APC polled 1,175,440 votes and PDP scored 66,115 votes.
The returning officer added that a total of 1,266,967 valid votes and 22,060 rejected votes were recorded in the election contested by 32 candidates.
According to him, the APC candidate polled the highest votes cast in the 27 local government areas and fulfilled the requirements of the law.
“Babagana Zulum, the governorship candidate of the APC, having scored the highest number of votes and fulfilled the requirements of the law, is hereby returned elected,” he said.
Both Yahaya and Zulum are first-term governors.
