Military aid PDP rigging in Imo says Rochas Okorocha

The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has frowned on the way the Peoples Democratic Party “rigged” the elections of Saturday and has therefore called for the outright cancellation of the results in six local government areas of the state.

He also said that the election in the state was full of combined conspiracy with military intervention.

The governor, who addressed journalists on Monday at the Government House, Owerri, accused notable chieftains of the PDP in the state of using the military to terrorise voters.

He alleged that such areas as Oru East, Ohaji/Egbema, Ngor Okpala, Aboh Mbaise and parts of Owerri West did not only witnessed unprecedented rigging but also abduction and kidnapping of agents of rival political parties who were manhandled and forced to lie prostrate on the ground by soldiers acting on the orders of the Federal Government.

He said, “Armed soldiers were used by the PDP as aides to the collation officers and there was no collation of results at the ward levels as prescribed by the Electoral Act. All the collating officers and presiding officers were directed to go and submit their results at the LG level, from where they collected all the results from the booths in the presence of soldiers.”

Okorocha also lashed out at security agents who he alleged barred agents of the opposition parties from entering into the INEC office while giving those of the PDP unfettered access to the premises of the electoral commission.

The governor also said that 250 students of the Rochas Foundation College who duly registered for the election and were issued with PVC, were arrested and held hostage at Ogboko on what he called trumped-up charges and were prevented from voting by soldiers working for the PDP.

“Most of these helpless children are orphans and I am their father, they duly registered for the election but soldiers arrested, humiliated and detained them without food and water and they were not released until the following day being Sunday.”

Okorocha insisted that election did not take place in the Isiala Mbano area and parts of Aboh Mbaise. He expressed shock that results were still announced in these areas by INEC.

The governor also denied allegations of tearing result sheets and added that his convoy was shot at by security agents during which one of the boys in his entourage was seriously wounded and immediately rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.

APC loses six reps seats to opposition in Lagos

The All Progressives Congress has lost five House of Representatives seats to the Peoples Democratic Party and a seat to the Accord Party in Lagos.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that most of the reps lost in Igbo- dominated local government areas.

Sources in the APC said the love the people of the South-East have for President Goodluck Jonathan positively affected the PDP candidates, some of whom had not even been rigorously campaigning.

In Amuwo Odofin local government, which has a very high Igbo population, especially in areas like Kirikiri, Satellite Town and FESTAC, the PDP candidate, Oghene Egboh, who is from the Niger-Delta, defeated Mr. Ganiyu Olukolu of the APC.

In Ajeromi/Ifelodun, which is one of the most densely populated areas in Lagos State and is home to Ajegunle (another Igbo dominated area), the PDP candidate, Mrs. Rita Orji, who also hails from the South-East, defeated Taiwo Adenekan of the APC.

The story was the same in the Igbo-dominated Ojo LG, where the PDP candidate, Mr. Tajudeen Obasa, won the seat.

In Surulere federal constituency 2, which is home to Aguda and a few Igbo settlements, Mr. Tunji Soyinka of the PDP defeated Mr. Hakeem Bamgbala of the APC.

It was learnt that apart from the ‘Igbo’ factor, the incumbent rep, Mr. Aliyu Kazeem, had been in court with Bamgbala over the conduct of the primary.

It was learnt that the division within the party gave the PDP the opportunity to penetrate the community.

An APC leader in Surulere said, “We are still in shock. Haliyu Kazeem, who is the incumbent, lost the primary in December last year and refused to work with Bamgbala. He took Bamgbala to court and they are still slugging it out.

“If they had put things in order, we would not have lost. Bamgbala is a former chairman of Aguda Local Council Development Area and a good grass roots politician.”

In Mushin federal constituency 2, the APC candidate, Yemi Alli, lost to Dauda Kako-Aare of the Accord Party.

Kako-Aare, who is the incumbent, lost at the APC primary last December to Alli and defected to Accord.

In Oshodi/Isolo federal constituency 2, the incumbent, Mr. Akeem Munir, lost to Mr. Tony Nwoolu of the PDP.

Despite Rigging from South/South and Southeast, APC still leading

Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), continues to lead incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a comfortable margin, even as controversial election results from Rivers and Akwa Ibom states were added to the national tally, giving a boost to Mr. Jonathan. 

Election observers as well as Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State had declared that last Saturday’s elections in the state turned into a fiasco, marked by intimidation and shootings of APC members and widespread manipulation by security agents. Even so, the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state declared that Mr. Jonathan polled more than 1.48 million in the state, leaving Mr. Buhari with a little more than 69,000 votes. 
Despite this figure and results from Akwa Ibom that gave the incumbent president 953,304 votes, the APC presidential candidate maintains his lead. 
It seems like several top APC politicians have already arrived in Abuja in preparation to declare victory in the presidential polls. 
The delay in announcing polling results from the South South and South East zones had caused apprehension within the country and heightened allegations that President Jonathan’s associates were surreptitiously attempting to inflate the incumbent president’s vote tally from the two zones.
The Results are as follows:
EKITI STATE
APC - 120, 331
PDP - 176, 466
OGUN STATE
APC - 308, 290
PDP - 207, 950
ENUGU STATE
APC - 14, 157
PDP - 553, 003
KOGI STATE
APC - 264, 851
PDP - 149, 937
OSUN STATE
APC - 383, 603
PDP - 249, 929
ONDO STATE
APC - 299, 889
PDP - 251, 368
FCT
APC - 146, 399
PDP - 157, 195
OYO STATE
APC - 528, 620
PDP - 303, 376
NASARAWA
APC - 236, 838
PDP - 273, 460
AKWA IBOM STATE
APC - 58, 411
PDP - 953, 304
IMO STATE
APC - 133, 253
PDP - 559, 185
PLATEAU STATE
APC - 429, 140
PDP - 549, 615
KANO STATE
APC - 1, 903, 999
PDP - 215, 779
JIGAWA STATE
APC - 885, 988
PDP - 142, 904
KADUNA STATE
APC - 1, 127, 760
PDP - 484, 085
KWARA STATE
APC - 302, 146
PDP - 132, 602
KATSINA STATE
APC - 1, 345, 441
PDP - 98, 937
ABIA STATE
APC - 13, 394
PDP - 368, 303
ANAMBRA STATE
APC - 17, 926
PDP - 660, 762
KANO STATE
APC - 1, 903, 999
PDP - 215, 779
          

Dino Melaye floors former NUJ president Smart Adeyemi for Senate

the former federal house of representative member, Mr Dino Melaye have defeated former president of the NUJ, Mr Smart Adeyemi.
Details later...

Fayose’s deputy should be charged with election violence says APC

The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to charge the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, for election violence.

It also asked the Commission to cancel the election result in Ire-Ekiti over allegation of violence and ballot snatching.

The opposition party based the call on the reported shooting of an APC member, Jide Owolabi, in Ikere-Ekiti, on the alleged order of the deputy governor during Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

It was gathered that problem started when Eleka, who was moving around the polling units in Ikere Ekiti to monitor the accreditation process was accosted by aggrieved youths who saw his action as violating the electoral law.

It was reported that Owolabi was shot on his buttocks by one of the security operatives attached to the deputy governor during the ensued argument.

The APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said in a statement on Sunday that the two incidents were well plotted as strategic plan by the Peoples Democratic Party to have undue advantage to win the ballot.

He said, “What happened in Ikere-Ekiti was a pre-meditated incident to cow the opposition to submission. We had earlier raised the alarm to the plan by top officials of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s administration to employ violence and intimidation to cow our members to enable them manipulate the electoral process.

“We wrote the security agencies, including both local and international human rights organs, about PDP’s plan. Yesterday incident was just a manifestation of the fears we raised.

The APC spokesman said the INEC and security agencies should investigate the incident while also asking the electoral body to charge the deputy governor for electoral violence.

Reacting, the Acting Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Joseph Adaraniwon, said the APC was chasing shadows by demanding prosecution of the deputy governor.

He said, “The Deputy Governor cannot be charged for any electoral violence because he did not carry any arms or attack anybody. Instead, it was the APC’s hired thugs that attacked the gentleman. The APC is only making excuses for its defeat in the whole 16 local government areas of the state.”

APC alleges irregularities in Rivers, Anambra, Edo,

The All Progressives Congress in Anambra State has accused the Peoples Democratic Party of using residential houses, hotels and other secret places for collation of electoral results.

The party also said that most of the legitimate collation centres were left empty without any sign of electoral activities.

The senator representing Anambra Central and who is also seeking reelection, Dr. Chris Ngige, who spoke for members of the party in Awka on Sunday, said powerful persons in the state had held on to the results of the elections, hence the delay in announcement of electoral results.

He also said results sheets were also not made available at the centres.

Ngige, who called for the outright cancellation of elections in the state, said to further compound the situation, the number of people accredited and expected to vote during Saturday’s election at different polling stations were not made public by INEC officials.

“In some places, the accreditation was done alongside the voting proper. People voted as many times as possible,” he alleged.

According to Ngige, the accreditation was done with a view to manipulating the results, adding that in most places, the fingers of voters were not inked.

He said names of voters were being written on fresh sheets of paper during the accreditation, which gave room for serious manipulation.

He said over 200 policemen were accompanied by some PDP stalwarts to some local government areas with the intention of forcing electoral officers to sign blank result sheets.

But speaking to our correspondent in an interview on Sunday, the Residential Electoral Commissioner, Anambra State, Mr. Edwin Nwatarali, said no report had been brought to him showing that fingers were not inked during the elections.

He said the commission had to move collation centres from troubled zones to other collation centres that were peaceful after a clash occurred on Sunday in one of the collation centres.

He said threats to lives of INEC personnel and materials had been reported to him, and the situation was under control.

Meanwhile in Rivers state, governor Amaechi have also shown the public the rigging tricks of the PDP before now that all result sheets were no where to be found during the voting process which lead to the protest that took place yesterday.

So also Edo north LGA who is also the local government of the Edo state government was locked down in order to pave way for voters intimidation and other irregularities.

Buhari in early lead, as Jonathan leads in Imo,Edo, Ekiti

 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari took an early lead yesterday as results of Saturday’s poll trickled in.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officers announced results in some states.
The APC candidate is ahead in Kano, Ogun, Osun, Kogi, Oyo, Borno,   Ondo and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Results in 23 local government areas of Kano State’s 44 were declared last night. All were won by the APC candidate.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is ahead in Nasarawa State. He won in the six of the nine local government areas where results were declared. The APC won in Wamba, Keffi and Awe. PDP won in Akwanga, Nasarawa Eggon, Obi, Keana, Kokona and Doma.
Dr. Jonathan won only in Marte, one  of the 16 local government areas where results were declared in Borno State.
Jonathan also won with wide margins in Enugu State where results in three local government areas were released.
In Ekiti State, the PDP candidate won in all the 16 local government areas.
In Ogun State, the APC candidate won in 13 of the 20 local government areas.
A breakdown of the figures showed that in Remo North, APC polled 6,164.  PDP got 9,278. In Ewekoro, APC had 9,626 and PDP polled 3,227. For Obafemi Owode, APC got 15,207 and PDP secured 5,786.
At Imeko Afon, APC polled 7,657 with PDP scoring 12,153. At Ijebu Ode local government, APC polled 14,043 while PDP got 8,962.
For Sagamu, APC got 15,761 and PDP had 17,263. In Odeda Local Government, APC had 11,102 while PDP had 4,456. In Odogbolu, APC had 11,623 and PDP (11,405).
In Ijebu North East, APC won 7,638 and PDP got 6,163.
But, despite the challenge faced by 125,483 registered voters in Abeokuta North in collecting their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), APC dusted PDP with 21,213 votes to 5,742 in an election cast by 29,107 valid voters.
In Ogun Waterside, APC won  7,076 votes  and PDP got 8,063. In Ado-Odo Ota, APC (37,385), PDP (15,252); Abeokuta South APC (35,878), PDP (10,062); Ijebu East APC (9,109) PDP (10,045)
Also, in Egbado South,  APC: 14,169 and PDP: 10,491; Ijebu North, APC:  14,410 and PDP: 20,500;  Ifo, APC: 27,353 and PDP: 8, 645; Egbado North, APC: 16,459 and PDP: 13,408; Ikenne: APC: 8,443 and  PDP: 11,503;  Ipokia  APC:17,974 and PDP: 15,546.
Director – General of Amosun Campaign Organisation(AMCO), Chief Bode Mustapha, hailed the performance of the state chapter of the APC in the concluded presidential and National Assembly polls.
Mustapha, who is also the APC returning Officer in the state, said the party’s performance was quite impressive and served as pointer to what lies ahead in the forthcoming April governorship election.
He ascribed the performance to the performance of the governor in the last 44 months coupled with his robust and energetic campaign around the wards and 20 local governments in the state.
The APC candidate is also leading in Oyo State, with results from 23 out of the 33 local government areas declared. The APC won in 19. Jonathan won in four – Oriire, Ogo Oluwa, Surulere and Itesiwaju.
In Ona-Ara, the local government where PDP governorship candidate Senator Teslim Folarin and Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Jumoke Akinjide hail from, the APC won by over 5,000 votes.
The local governments won by the APC are Atisbo, Saki East, Iwajowa, Oyo West, Ibarapa East, Atiba, Iddo, Oluyole and Kajola.
Others are Afijio, Oorelope, Irepo and Iseyin.
In Ondo State, Gen. Buhari won in eight of the 14 local government areas where results were declared.
He won in Akoko North West,  Ifedore Local Government,   Akure North, Owo, Akoko Southeast, Idanre, Akoko South and Akure South.
Jonathan won in Odigbo, Ese Odo, Ile Oluji/Oke Igbo, Ondo West, Ireleand Ose.
In Benue State, Jonathan ahead in Ogbadibo, Agatu, Ado, Okpokwu, Ohimiri local government areas.
The PDP candidate is slightly ahead in the results of four local government areas of Benue State Zone C declared yesterday. In Ogbadibo, the PDP polled 6937 to APC’s 6257.
In Agatu, PDP got 9,555 votes to APC ‘s 3,627. In Ado Councils the PDP scored 7, 382 to APC’s 2, 328.
It Okpokwu Local Government, PDP got 12,103 as against APC’s 4,757.
PDP also won in Ohimini Local Government, scoring 5909 to APC ‘s 4,734 votes.
All the local governments are in Benue State, where the APC is believed to be weak, its strongholds  being Benue North and Central.
The results from other parts of the state had not been released last night.
In Osun State, with 30 local government areas declared, Gen. Buhari won in 28. PDP won in Ife East and Ife Central local government areas.
In Kogi State, the APC candidate won in six of the nine local government areas so far declared. There are 21 local government areas in the state.
The councils won by the APC are Dekina – where Governor Idris Wada hails from – Ogorimagongo, Adavi, Okehi, Idah, and Mopamoro. The PDP won in YagbaWest, Igalamela/Odolu and Mopa Bassa.
In Sokoto State, the APC candidate swept the polls in the three local government areas announced last night. These are Kware (APC 25,286, PDP 6,918);  Dange/Shuni (APC 31,036, PDP 5,339) and Goronyo (APC 28,950, PDP 7664).
Results from five local government areas in Kaduna State were released yesterday. The APC candidate won in two Soba and Sabon Garin, while the PDP won in Kaura, Jaba and Sanga. The votes as announced by Returning Officer Prof. Ja’afaru Kaura are Soba APC 61656, PDP 1998, Kaura APC 7101, PDP 27502, Sabon Garin APC 71022, PDP 10845. Jaba APC 5342, PDP 18314 and Sanga APC 12817, PDP 22858.
In the FCT, the results from four of the six Area Councils were declared yesterday. The APC candidate won in Abaji, Gwagwalada and Kwali. President Jonathan won in Kuje.

The results of the presidential election in 11 out of the 27 local government areas in Imo State collated on Sunday in Owerri, capital of the state, show that President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, is clearly leading his main opponent, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Major-Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The collated results were from Ideato North, Isiala-Mbaino, Isu, Obowo, Ohaji-Egbema,. Okigwe, Owerri Municipal, Owerri West, Nwangene, Oru East and Ideato South LGAs.

Jonathan polled a total of  210,022 votes to grab the lead ahead of Buhari, who had 50,977  votes.

The latter won in Ideato South, Governor Rochas Okorocha’s home LGA, by 12, 128 votes as against Jonathan’s 6,406 votes.

As the collation of results of the presidential election continues, the Peoples Democratic Party has won the poll in seven Local Government Areas in Edo State.

Edo has 18 LGs.

At the INEC office in Benin where the collation of results continued into the early hours of Monday, at Igueben the PDP led with about 6,854 votes while the All Peoples Congress followed with 5,692 votes.

In Esan Central,  PDP polled 12,003 votes while the APC polled 7,688 votes while in Etsako Central, PDP led with 10,365 votes while APC won 8,152 votes.

At Esan North East, PDP led with 19,440 votes while APC polled 6,151 votes. At Etsako East, the PDP polled 13,071 votes while the APC polled 9,788.

At Esan West, the PDP polled 19,600 votes while the APC polled 9,578 votes.

At Ikpobaokha, PDP polled 31,373 votes while the APC garnered 18,527 votes while at Owan East, the PDP polled 12,121 votes. The APC polled 12,925 votes.

Present at the collation were the agents of all the political parties, which took part in the election, as well as the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mike Igini, and State Collation Officer, Prof. Falade Orunwense. who is also the Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin,