Buhari leads Jonathan

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday released results of the Presidential elections from 18 states and the Federal Capital, Abuja with the opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari winning ten states which totalled 8,520,436 votes.President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party who is running for re-election got 6,488,210 votes.INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega announced […]

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday released results of the Presidential elections from 18 states and the Federal Capital, Abuja with the opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari winning ten states which totalled 8,520,436 votes.
President Goodluck Jonathan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party who is running for re-election got 6,488,210 votes.
INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega announced the results yesterday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
Gen Buhari won majority of votes in 10 states, namely Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun,  Kogi, Kano, Jonathan won the polls in the Federal Capital Territory with 157,195 votes while Buhari got 146,399 votes.
Collation of results from 18 more states are expected to resume today.
One of the major requirements for winning the general elections is for a candidate to secure the highest number of votes cast as well as a quarter of votes in at least 24 of the 36 states in the country.
So far Gen Buhari has secured a quarter of votes in 14 of 18 states while President Jonathan has the required quarter of votes in 15 states.
In the race for 109 seats in the National Assembly, the APC has won about 55 seats while the ruling PDP won about 36 seats.
For the House of Representatives the APC has won 87 seats while the PDP has less than 30. There are 360 seat at the lower chamber.
Breakdown of results so far released by the electoral commission showed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won in Ekiti, with 176,466 votes against APC’s 120,331.
In Ogun, APC secured 308,290 votes to beat the PDP, which recorded 207,950. In Enugu, PDP had 553,003 votes, leaving the APC with 14,157 votes.
In Kogi, PDP trailed APC with 149,987 against 264,851. In Osun, APC won with 383,603 votes, while PDP had 249,929. The APC also won Ondo with 299,889 against PDP’s 251,368. In the neigbouring state of Oyo, APC won with 528,620 votes to beat PDP which had 303,376.
In Nasarawa, which is controlled by the APC, the PDP came tops with 273,460 votes; the APC had 263,838 votes.
Concern over voided votes
After the results for Nasarawa were announced by Prof Abdulmumini Hassan Rafin-Dadi, VC of Lokoja University, who said there were many cancellations, the African Peoples Alliance (APA) agent, Sadiq Umar-Gombe raised concern over the number of voided results, which he said was far beyond the difference between the PDP and APC candidates.
Gombe said 79,386 votes were voided, representing 16 percent, and three times the difference between the winner (Jonathan) and his runner up (Buhari), adding that the issue needed to be looked into by INEC.
More results showed that APC polled 1,903,999 in Kano, while PDP polled 215,779. In Jigawa, APC secured 885,988 votes against PDP’s 142,904.
In Katsina, APC won with 1,345,441 votes against PDP’s 98,937, while in Kwara, APC got 302,146 votes against PDP’s 132, 602.
In Anambra, PDP got 660, 762 votes against the 17,926 scored by APC, just as PDP secured 368,303 votes in Abia, against 13,393 votes of the APC.
The PDP won in Akwa Ibom with 953,304 votes while APC had APC 58411. In Imo PDP scored 559,185 votes to defeat APC which had 133, 253 votes, while in Plateau PDP won with 549, 615, as against APC’s 429, 140.