- Oppositions Kick As Death, Abduction, Outcry Trail Election
- Diri, Sylva In Nervous Wait As Collation Is Adjourned To Noon Monday In Bayelsa, Again
- INEC Charges Police, Others To Secure Release Of Abducted Officials In Bayelsa
After a nerve-wracking, intense voting exercise in the November 11, 2023, off-cycle governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States, the duo of Hope Uzodinma and Usman Ododo have emerged victorious in Imo and Kogi states respectively while there is an anxious wait for a winner to emerge in Bayelsa State.
In Imo, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election after the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Prof Abayomi Fashina, who was the state Returning Officer declared Uzodimma re-elected on Sunday morning at about 10 am after over eight hours of collation of local government results.
Uzodimma, 64, sought re-election in Saturday’s poll and cleared all the 27 local government areas in the state.
Uzodimma trounced the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP Samuel Anyanwu, Labour Party (LP)’s Nneji Achonu, Jack Ogunewe of the Action Alliance (AA), and 14 other opponents to emerge victorious.
The APC candidate polled 540, 308 votes to defeat his closest rivals, PDP’s Anyanwu, who scored 71,503 votes and LP’s Achonu who got 64,081 votes.
“That you Hope Uzodimma of APC having satisfied the law is hereby returned elected,” Fashina declared.
In Kogi, the governorship candidate of the APC, Usman Ododo was also declared winner of the poll.
Ododo’s victory was announced by the State Returning Officer, Prof Johnson Urama.
Urama made the declaration at 10:23 pm on Sunday.
“Ahmed Usman Ododo of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” he said.
Ododo won with 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who scored 259,052.
Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled a distant third with 46,362 votes.
However, the victory of Uzodinma and Ododo has been met with rejection by the opposition parties and their candidates.
The PDP and the LP on Sunday cried foul after INEC declared Uzodimma as the winner of the election.
Their candidates, Anyanwu and Achonu have vehemently rejected the result of the election. The situation is not different in Kogi as both Ajaka and Melaye have called for the cancellation of the election.
Melaye, the PDP candidate at a press conference called for the cancellation of the polls, describing the conduct of the exercise as “shameful”.
“I will start by condemning in its totality the conduct of the elections yesterday and outrightly call for the total cancellation of the election because that was not an election,” the PDP candidate said.
“It is shameful that the unhealthy INEC refuse to realise, ameliorate or palliate the problems they created in the last presidential and governorship elections.
“Yesterday in the five local governments of the central senatorial district in Kogi state, there was no election. Surprisingly, accreditation was done manually, the BVAS was not used. Prepared sheets manifested even before accreditation took place and evidence is all over the media.
“So, INEC as a matter of urgency must cancel the election. In many areas where I won, my agents were told there were no available result sheets to enter the result and we have evidence to back up these claims.
“As I speak to you, it is shameful that this is what our democracy has descended to. INEC has manifested more than before, that they cannot be trusted, they are biased, they are compromised, and they cannot be a neutral umpire.
“INEC officials and youth corps members were caught yesterday with prepared result sheets even before the commencement of the processes. A youth corps member was arrested with a prepared result and N1 million in his bag.”
In a worrisome development, the elections in the three states have been marred by reports of killing, vote-buying, abduction and other electoral offences further dampening the hopes of electorates in the country with the outcry trailing the election resounding and deafening.
INEC, in a post on its X handle on Sunday, charged the police and other security operatives to investigate and facilitate the release of some of its officials who were abducted in Bayelsa State.
The post read, “The unfolding situation in Brass Local Government Area. The Commission is closely watching the situation in Brass LG of Bayelsa State, where our officials are held hostage.
“This is detrimental to credible elections. We call on the security agencies to immediately facilitate their release.”
In a case of gone with the election, a man identified as George Sibo reportedly died Sunday afternoon in Twon-Brass, the headquarters of the Brass LG, after he was attacked by a mob believed to be APC supporters.
It was learnt that the deceased, a PDP supporter, was attacked at the governorship election collation centre at the council area headquarters when results from some wards in Constituency 2 were being submitted.
Sibo, popularly called “Kobo-Kobo”, was said to be an indigene of Twon-Brass and an aide to a politician from the local government.
A member of the state House of Assembly representing Brass Constituency 1, Daniel Charles, condemned the gruesome killing of the man.
He urged security agents to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the dastardly act immediately.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Asinim Butswat, said he was awaiting the details of the incident from the area commander in Brass LGA.
While Uzodinma and Ododo have known their fate, the duo of Duoye Diri and Timipre Sylva in Bayelsa are facing a nervous wait as INEC, on Sunday night, adjourned the collation of results in the State Governorship Election till Monday noon.
Results from six of the eight local government areas in the state namely Kolokuma/Opokuma, Ogbia, Yenegoa, Sagbama, Nembe and Ekeremor have been collated. The remaining local government areas are Brass and Southern Ijaw.
Prof Faruq Kuta, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Of Technology, Minna, and the state Returning Officer for the election in Bayelsa adjourned the exercise on Sunday night.
Sixteen political parties sponsored candidates for the election in Bayelsa.
