Thursday, April 28, 2011

Nigerian Governor's Class of 2011

Governors’ class of 2011

Thursday, 28 April 2011 00:00
Nigerian Guardian

From John-Abba Ogbodo (Abuja), Simeon Nwakaudu (Makurdi), Abiodun Fagbemi and Seye Olumide (Ilorin), Lawrence Njoku (Enugu), Joseph Onyekwere (Lagos), John Akubo (Dutse) Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt) Odita Sunday, Inemesit Akpan-Nso (Uyo) Gordi Udeajah, Em Amosun, Ahmed win Ogun, Kwara, Doma loses in Nasarawa

Lamido, Amaechi, Fashola, Akpabio, Suswam re-elected

Chime, Orji, Geidam, Aliyu retain seats

Kwankwaso returns to Kano Govt House

Stalemate in Imo, Ajimobi floors Alao-Akala

THE wind of change blowing across the polity yesterday swept away some sitting governors and helmsmen of state legislatures.

Some outgoing governors also failed in their bid to handover power to their favoured candidates.

The first major upset recorded yesterday as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the results of last Tuesday’s governorship and Houses of Assembly elections was in Nasarawa State, where Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was defeated by Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC).

In Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) crushed the political empires of Governor Gbenga Daniel and former President Olusegun Obasanjo by defeating the Gbenga Daniel’s choice, Gboyega Isiaka of the People’s Party of Nigeria (PPN) and Maj.-Gen. Tunji Olurin of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), whom Obasanjo supported in the contest.

Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State consolidated his grip on the political landscape of the state as his supported candidate for the governorship seat Abdulfattah Ahmed emerged winner in the elections thus inflicting the last electoral defeat on his biological father, Dr. Olusola Saraki.

Pa. Saraki, the former Senate Leader in the Second Republic since losing his first political contest some 44 years ago had never been defeated in any political contest either as a candidate or backing any candidate until yesterday.

NASARAWA

Announcing the result at the INEC headquarters, Lafia, the Returning Officer for the state, Dr. Adamu Muhammed said Al-Makura of the CPC polled 324,832 votes to defeat Doma, who scored 320,538 votes.

Born 57 years ago, Al-Makura is one of the richest business moguls ever to hail from Nasarawa State. He is known across the state for his philanthropy and vast political structure, which he has used in the past to assist other politicians.

Al-Makura, who was a director at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Jos, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1978. He was elected into the Constituent Assembly in 1988 to represent the Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency and became a Youth Leader of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He once served as the Secretary of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in Plateau State.

In his reaction, yesterday, Al-Makura said he would use the mandate given him by the people to develop the rural areas to generate wealth for the impoverished residents.

OGUN

Amosun scored 377,487 of the total votes of 764,384 to emerge the winner. Of this, 34,713 were voided. Olurin came a distant second with 188,698 votes while Isiaka got 137,051 to come third.

The PDP and the PPN yesterday accepted defeat and congratulated the ACN for its victory. Olurin and Isiaka in separate messages congratulated Amosun. Daniel also sent a congratulatory message to Amosun. In Daniel’s message, he stated that “Senator Amosun’s victory actualises the yearning of the people of Ogun State for change of political platform in the governance of the state.”

OYO

Governor Christopher Alao-Akala has also been swept away by the ACN hurricane in the South-West.

Alao-Akala lost his re-election bid to ACN’s Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, who polled 420,852 votes. The governor got 387,132 while former Governor Rashidi Ladoja of the Accord Party (AP) scored 275,763 votes.

With Alao-Akala’s defeat, the governor failed in his bid to break the jinx that no governor of the state has succeeded in securing second term in office.

The Chief Returning Officer for the state, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro while declaring Ajimobi as the winner, said the ACN scored the required 25 per cent in 26 local councils while the PDP candidate got the required 25 per cent in 22 councils. Ladoja scored 25 per cent in 10 local governments.

KWARA

The political icon gave his overt support to his biological daughter, Gbemisola Saraki of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) in the elections. Initial hostilities trailed the announcement of the female Senator as a governorship candidate.

But the younger Saraki cited moral grounds as having spent a maximum of eight years in the saddle as the governor, it was better for someone else outside his family to be his successor.

Announcing the results yesterday in Ilorin, the Chief Returning Officer for the state, Prof. Rasheed Aderinoye of the University of Ibadan (UI) credited the PDP candidate with 254, 969 votes, scoring two-third votes in all the 16 local councils of the state. He has 48.34 per cent of the total valid votes cast.

A break down of the results showed that the PDP won in 15 councils conceding victory to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) only in Offa Local Council. The ACN candidate in the election Dele Belgore (SAN) scored 152,580 representing 28.92 per cent of the total votes cast. Gbemisola Saraki received 72,456 votes or 13.73 per cent just as the Congress for Progressive Candidate (CPC) Alhaji AbdulRahaman Abdulrazak got 10,042 votes representing 1.069 per cent. Gbenga Olawepo of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) scored 5,640 votes representing 1.069 per cent.

The results of the state’s Assembly elections showed that the PDP won 22 of the 24 seats in the elections as the ACN won two in Offa.

ENUGU

It was celebration galore for the PDP in Enugu State yesterday as INEC declared Governor Sullivan Chime, winner of the governorship election in the state.

In the results declared by the state Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Prof. Bartho Okolo, Chime polled 419,790 votes to beat his closest rival and candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Okey Ezea, who polled a distant 30,135 votes.

The candidate of the People for Democratic Change (PDC), Dr. Dan Shere came third with 29,565 votes.

Reacting to the development, LP Chairman, Chief Afam Ani, who described the process as transparent, said he monitored the exercise in certain places, stressing, however, that the party leadership would meet to decide on the next line of action.

The Director-General of Sullivan Chime Campaign Organisation, Dr. Festus Uzor, attributed the victory of the party to the trust the people have on the governor.

Okolo, who had earlier praised the orderliness exhibited by all political party agents during the collation, said it was a thing of commendation that representatives of parties that lost in the exercise accepted the results.

Chime has offered an olive branch to his political opponents, asking them to join hands with him to move the state forward.

He said the victory is not for him but for the development and growth of the state, explaining that Enugu would achieve more when its people unite and work for a common purpose.

LAGOS

“On the basis of the mandate given to me as the Returning Officer for Lagos State Gubernatorial Election, I, Prof. Kola Akinterewa, the acting Director-General of Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) hereby announce that Babatunde Raji Fashola of ACN having satisfied all the requirements of the law and secured the highest number of votes cast is hereby declared the winner of the election and is returned elected.”

With these words, Akinterewa declared Fashola as the winner of the election. Fashola polled 1,509,113 votes representing 81.03 per cent of the total votes cast to defeat his rival, Ade Dosunmu of the PDP, who got a paltry 300,450 votes to come second.

The ACN candidates also swept all the House of Assembly seats in 40 constituencies in the state.

JIGAWA

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State of the PDP has won the gubernatorial election in Jigawa State for the second time with 676, 307 votes to defeat his closest rival Badaru Abubakar Talamis of the ACN who polled 343, 177.

The Returning Officer, Prof. Jibril Amin, who declared the result, indicated that the PDP candidate having polled the highest number of votes as well as having satisfied all the requirements has been returned as the duly elected governor of the state.

He said the total votes cast was 1. 153, 621, while the total valid votes were 1,094, 549 and the invalid 59, 072.

Continuing, he declared that ANPP came third with 12, 124 votes and ADC 1206 votes.

Others are NRP 2,540, APGA 842, APS 808 and NPPP 634.

The PDP also won 29 House of Assembly seats, losing only to ANPP in Hadejia Local Council.

Lamido in a reaction thanked the people for the confidence they reposed in him for the umpteenth time promising to deliver more dividend of democracy to the people of the state in the next four years.

The returning agent of the ACN candidate, Ubale Shitu, dismissed the election as a sham, alleging that it was massively rigged by the ruling party.

YOBE

In Yobe State, Governor Ibrahim Geidam of the ANPP has won the gubernatorial election by beating Senator Usman Albishir of the PDP with a landslide victory.

AKWA IBOM

Incumbent Governor Godswill Akpabio was returned into office for a second term, winning in 28 local councils out of a possible 31.

The main opposition party in the state, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), won only in one of the councils.

RIVERS

The PDP Candidate in the Gubernatorial polls and Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, scored a total of 1,178,529 to emerge the winner in the contest.

The State Returning Officer and the Vice Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Joseph Ajienka, made this announcement yesterday after the collation of results from the 23 local councils of the state.

All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) came second with 112,528 votes, followed by the ACN, whose candidate scored 60241 votes.

Accord Party had 1,216; ANPP, 3,912; Hope Democratic Party 3,893; and Labour Party 2,250; and CPC, 1,900.

Ajienka explained that out of the 2,442,488 registered voters in the state, 1,373,469 participated in Tuesday’s election. 27,945 votes were voided.

Twenty-Nine political parties contested the governorship election. ABIA

Chief Collation Officer and Vice Chancellor, Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture Umuadike, Prof. Hilary Odo Edeoga, yesterday announced that incumbent Governor Theodore Orji of the PDP has won a second-term mandate.

Orji polled 641,158 votes to beat Chief Reagan Ufomba of APGA who received 49,421 votes to place second. Chris Akomas of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) came third with 43,778 votes; and ACN Candidate, Paul Ikonne polled 18,004 votes to place fourth.

Chief Chinenye Ike of the PDP won the House of Representatives seat for Isiala Ngwa Federal Constituency, which was held yesterday, while the PDP also swept all the 24 house of assembly seats.

KANO

Former Defence Minister, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the opposition PDP has reclaimed the Kano governorship seat he lost to incumbent Governor Ibrahim Shekarau eight years ago.

Kwankwaso emerged the winner of Tuesday’s governorship polls with a total of 1, 108, 345 votes against the 1,048,317 votes scored by his closest rival of the ruling ANPP.

Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, who is the returning officer of the Kano governorship polls declared kwankwaso elected having satisfied the requirements of the law by scoring the highest number of votes and 25 per cent of votes in 44 councils of the state.

NIGER

Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of the PDP has secured a second term mandate, following his victory at the Tuesday governorship election from the result so far released.

Out of the 22 local councils’ results so far released, the ruling PDP maintained its hold on the state, with Aliyu leading in 21 councils. There are 25 councils in the state. The CPC won in a local council.

As at the time of filing this report, results from three councils - Bida, Mokwa and Edati -were being awaited.

The results showed that Aliyu polled 480,593 votes to beat his closest rival, Alhaji Ibrahim Bako Shetima of the CPC to the second position. Shetima received 210,168 votes, while the second runners up, David Umaru the ANPP got 64,692 votes. Abubakar Bwari of the ACN posted 38,488 votes.

However, out of the 27 seats in the state House of Assembly, the PDP won 19 while CPC won three from the 24 results released as at press time.

BORNO

The ANPP candidate in Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has won the governorship election, with 531,147 to beat the PDP’s Alhaji Mohammed Goni, who scored 450,140 votes.

INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Abubakar Mustapha of the University of Maiduguri, said: “Having certified the elections in the 27 councils of 3,928 polling centres in Borno State; and of the 20 parties that participated in the governorship elections, Kashim Shettima of ANPP is hereby declared the winner of this election by scoring the highest votes of 531,147. Mohammed Goni of the PDP clinched the second position with 450,140 votes.”

BENUE

Governor Gabriel Suswam has won in 22 of the 23 local councils of the state.

At the INEC office, Prof. Daniel Uza said Suswam scored 539,824 votes while ACN’s Prof. Steve Ugbah polled 438,585 votes from the 21 local councils.

IMO

It was a dramatic turn of event in Owerri, Imo State capital yesterday as the Chief Returning Officer after announcing results in 22 local councils, declared the election “inconclusive.”

The election in two local councils were declared inconclusive by the Chief Returning Officer, Prof. Enock Akobuzo.

Of the 23 local councils, which results were announced, APGA’s Rochas Okoroacha won 12 while Governor Ikedi Ohakim of the PDP won 11.

There was pandemonium as party agents insisted that the remaining results should be announced and a winner declared by INEC.

It took the presence of armed security operatives in and around the collation centre to deter the crowd, including journalists, who were shouting on top of their voices from taking the law into their hands.

EBONYI

Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State and the PDP candidate was yesterday declared the winner of the governorship election.

He defeated Senator Julius Ali Ucha of the ANPP by polling 287,217 votes of the total 467,573 votes cast.

Ucha polled 125, 248 votes while the APGA candidate, Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu finished a distant third with 29, 055 votes.

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