Hurricane Jonathan

Results of Saturday’s presidential election so far released by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Sunday showed President Goodluck Jonathan having an unassailable lead. In the results from 28 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Jonathan, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate scored 19,133,721 votes while his main opponent, Maj.-Gen. Muhmammadu Buhari, had a distant 8,043,605 votes. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the Action Congress of Nigeria garnered 2,304,037 votes and Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau of the All Peoples Party of Nigeria had 753,672 votes. The winner of the poll must score 25 per cent of the votes cast in 24 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory required by the constitution to win the election. Jonathwan scored over 25 per cent in 26 out of the 28 states which results were declared. These states include Abia, Delta, Anambra, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Kwara, Katsina, Plateau, Ebonyi, Edo, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Niger, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, Benue, Rivers, Sokoto, Zamfara and Enugu, as well as the FCT. When results from other states of the federation already announced by the Resident Electoral Commissioners are added, the President is 100 per cent sure of coasting to victory in the first ballot. As at 8.30pm on Sunday, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Reuters had already declared him winner based on the results released at the INEC collation centre in Abuja and those released by the RECs in their respective states. The BBC said the President had scored more than 25 per cent of the votes cast in 24 states and the FCT. The results announced at the Abuja collation centre showed that Buhari had 25 per cent and above in nine states and the FCT. These states are Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Zamfaraw and Sokoto. Ribadu triumphed in only Osun, the home state of his party’s national chairman. He scored 299,711 votes (58.46 per cent) followed by Jonathan with 188,409(36.75 per cent). Buhari got 6,997 (1.36 per cent) while Shekarau had 3, 617 votes or 0.71 per cent of the votes cast. But in Kogi State, the PDP had 399,816 votes to beat the ACN, CPC and ANPP. The PPD had 71.17 per cent of the votes cast in the state. The CPC came second with 132,201 votes (23.17 per cent); ANPP 16,491 (2.94 per cent); and the ACN 6,516 (1.16 per cent). The PDP also led comfortably in Akwa Ibom State with 1,165,625, representing 94.58 per cent of all the votes cast. The ACN trailed behind with 54,148(4.39 per cent) while the CPC ganered 5,348 (0.43 per cent) and ANPP, 2,000 (0.16 per cent). Also, the PDP led in Imo State with 1, 381,357 (97.98 per cent). ACN came second with 14,821 (1.05 per cent), CPC has 7, 591 votes (0.54 per cent) and ANPP, 2, 520 votes (0.18 per cent). In Ekiti State, the PDP also won with 135,009 votes (51per cent) while the ACN trailed with 116,981 (44.65 per cent). The CPC came third with 2,689 (1.03 per cent) while the ANPP scored 1,482 votes (0.57 per cent). The PDP defeated other political parties in Oyo State as it scored 484,758 votes (56.14 per cent). It was followed by the ACN with 252,240 votes (29.21 per cent). The CPC, which got 92,396 votes (10.70 per cent) came third in the state while the ANPP, which scored 7,156 (0.83 per cent) came fourth. In Nasarawa State where the CPC expected to beat the PDP, it also suffered a defeat as shown with the result released by the commission. In the state, the PDP scored 408,997 votes (58.89 per cent), while the CPC got 278,390 (40.08 per cent). The Peoples Democratic Change, which did not filed any presidential candidate came third in the state with 1,398 (0.20 per cent), while ACN and ANPP got 1,204 (0.17 per cent) and 1,047 (0.15 per cent) respectively. Results from Lagos State showed the PDP defeating the ACN by polling 1, 281, 688 votes (65.9 per cent) . The ACN had 427, 203 votes while the CPC scored 189,983 or 9.7 per cent of the votes cast in the state. The ANPP was able to secure 8,941 votes or 0.46 per cent. Also in Ebonyi State, the PDP led with 430, 592 votes (99.45 per cent), while the ANPP came second with 14,296 votes (0.35 per cent). The National Chairman of the ANPP, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu hails from this state. The ACN came third with 1,112 (0.03 per cent), while the CPC scored a lowly 1,025 votes (0.03 per cent). The PDP also took its winning magic to Kwara State where it scored 268,243 (64.63 per cent). It was followed by the CPC which got 83,603 votes (20.16 per cent) and the ACN, 52,432 (12.64 per cent), The ANPPgot 1,672 (0.40 per cent). In Bayelsa State, which is the home state of the President, the PDP also won with a wide margin. While it scored 504, 811 votes (99.63 per cent), the CPC only managed to score 691 votes (0.14 per cent). ACN and the ANPP got 370 (0.07 per cent) and 136 (0.03 per cent) respectively. The PDP had a smooth sail too in Benue, the home state of the President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark. It had 694, 776 votes( 66.31 per cent); ACN, 223, 007(21.29 per cent); CPC, 109,630(10.47 per cent); and ANPP, 8,592 (0.82 per cent). In Kaduna, the home state of Vice-President Namadi Sambo, the CPC defeated the PDP by scoring 1,334,244 votes (51.9 per cent). The PDP scored 1,190,179 while the ACN had 11,278. The ANPP scored 17,301. The CPC also made a big impact in Sokoto where it garnered 54,769 votes. The PDP had 309,057; ANPP 5,063 and the ACN, 20,144 votes. Buhari also won in his state, Katsina, scoring 624,515 (66.25 per cent). The PDP had 238,980 (25.35 per cent); ACN, 17,970 (1.91 per cent) and ANPP, 46,554 (4.94 per cent). In Bauchi State, the CPC won majority of the votes cast by scoring 1,315,209 (81.6 per cent). The PDP, which came second got 258,204 votes (16.05 per cent); ACN, 16,674 votes (1.04 per cent) and ANPP, 8,777(0.55 per cent.) The electorate in Kano State abandoned the governor, Shekarau, for the CPC. In the election, CPC got 1,624,543 votes (60.77 per cent) while ANPP came second with 19.69 per cent. The PDP came third with 440,666 votes (16.48 per cent), while the ACN scored 42, 353 votes (1.5 per cent). Ribadu also had a relatively good showing in Ogun State where he scored 199,555 or 38 per cent of the total votes cast. He also did well in Ekiti State by scoring 116,981 or 46 per cent thereby coming second behind Jonathan. However, Shekarau, who appeared the most promising of all the candidates going by his performance during the presidential debate fell flat on the political field. The best result he got was scoring 143,179 or 24 per cent of the votes in Yobe State and another 526,310 or 20 per cent of the votes in Kano State where he is the incumbent governor. INEC stopped the announcement of the results at the Abuja collation centre after those of 28 states and FCT had been made public. It said it would continue the announcement from 9am today. Agents of the four major political parties were at the venue of the collation centre. Mr. Philip Aduda and Uche Secondus represented the PDP; Mallam Garba Abari stood in for the ACN, while Gen. India Garba and Hadi Silika represented the CPC. The ANPP was represented by Navy. Capt Amosun (retd.). Twenty presidential candidates, including a woman took part in the Saturday poll that 73 million people registered to participate in. In the 1999 presidential election, where only three political parties —Alliance for Democracy, PDP and All Peoples Party — participated, the total number of registered voters was 57,938,945. By Emma Anya, Olusola Fabiyi, Segun Olugbile, and Ade Adesomoju Courtesy Of: Punch