Ortom

After Saturday’s tense supplementary elections, incumbent governors Aminu Tambuwal, Simon Lalong, Samuel Ortom and Abdullahi Ganduje have been declared governors-elect of Sokoto, Plateau, Benue and Kano states respectively.

In a dramatic photo-finish, Governor Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured a second term in office after he polled 512,002 to defeat Ahmed Aliyu, his erstwhile deputy and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by 341 votes.  Aliyu polled 511,661 votes.

The results of the supplementary election showed that Tambuwal scored 22,444 votes while the APC candidate polled  25,515 votes.

Prior to the declaration of the governorship election in the state as inconclusive by the Returning Officer, Prof. Fatima Mukhtar, Governor Tambuwal was in the lead with 489,558 votes as against Aliyu’s 486,145 votes.

Prof. Mukhtar had declared the election as inconclusive as the 3,413 lead margin was far less than the cancelled votes which totalled 75,403.

Similarly, Governor Samuel Ortom of the PDP won in Benue State. Declaring the result, the state Returning Officer, Sebastain Maimako said Ortom polled a total of 434,473 votes to beat Emmanuel Jime of the APC who polled a total of 345,155

 In Plateau State, Governor Simon Lalong of the APC tallied 595, 582 votes to defeat Senator Jeremiah Useni of the PDP who scored 546, 813 votes.

According to the results of the supplementary election in the state conducted in 40 polling units in nine local government areas, Lalong got 12,327 votes while Useni scored 8, 487 votes.

During the March 9 governorship poll, Lalong had polled 583, 255 votes while Useni had 538, 326.The election was declared inconclusive as the leading margin was less than the total votes cancelled.

Declaring the winner of the gubernatorial election in Kano State, the INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Bello Shehu announced that Governor Ganduje of the APC scored a total vote of 1,033,695 as against his opponent, Abba Kabir Yusuf of the PDP who garnered a total of 1,024705 votes.

Before the re-run, the PDP candidate scored a total vote of 1,014,474 in the Match 9 gubernatorial election while Ganduje scored 987,810, giving Abba an edge with over 26,000 votes before the election was declared inconclusive by INEC over the violence recorded at some polling units.

In the supplementary election held in 28 out of the 44 local government areas in the state, Bello said Ganduje won by scoring 45,876 votes to Yusuf’s 10,239 thereby up turning the result in his favour.

In Bauchi State, the PDP governorship candidate, Senator Bala Mohammed won the supplementary election held in 36 polling units in 29 wards across 15 local government areas to stretch the lead over his opponent.

Results from the 15 LGAs as declared by the State Returning Officer, Prof. Kyari Mohammed showed that the PDP polled 6, 376 votes while incumbent Governor Mohammed Abubakar of the APC got 5, 117 votes.

Before the declaration of the governorship election as inconclusive by Prof. Mohammed on March 11, the PDP candidate was leading with 4, 059 votes. According to the Returning Officer, Senator Mohammed got 469,512 votes to lead Governor Abubakar who got 465, 453 votes.