Usman Ododo, APC, declared winner of Kogi election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Usman Ododo of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as winner of the Kogi Governorship election.
Ododo won
with 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP), with a margin of about 200,000 votes.
The State Returning
Officer, Prof Johnson Urama, who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of
the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, announced Ododo as the winner at 10:23pm on
Sunday, saying “Ahmed Usman Ododo of APC, having satisfied the requirement of
the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”
Ododo won
with 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP), who scored 259,052, while Dino Melaye of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) polled 46,362 votes.
Results from
the 21 local government areas (LGAs) in the state were collated late Sunday
with the APC candidate sweeping over half of the LGAs.
Ododo, an
ex-Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi under Governor Yahaya Bello, was
the anointed candidate of the governor who is ending his double terms of eight
years.
Melaye and
some civil rights groups had on Saturday, raised the alarm over “filled result
sheets” in the Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of the North Central state.
The PDP candidate also called for the suspension of the exercise over violence
and vote buying. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
subsequently suspended election in nine wards in the local government area.
Late Sunday,
INEC said fresh polls will be conducted in 59 polling units in the
Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of the state on November 18, 2023.
INEC, however,
introduced a condition for the polls to be held in the 59 polling units, saying
that “the decision to hold fresh elections is subject to the Returning
Officer’s determination of the application of the Margin of Lead Principle”.
In his
declaration late Sunday, Urama said the total number of Permanent Voter Cards
in the affected polling units was put at 16,247, one that was insignificant to
the about 200,000 votes gathered by the APC candidate ahead of his closest
rival – Ajaka.
The margin
of lead implied that the elections initially scheduled by INEC for next
Saturday in the 59 polling units would no longer be held.
Both Ajaka
and Melaye have rejected the outcome of the poll, expressing disappointment in
INEC and security agencies which they accused of collusion with the ruling APC
in Kog
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