By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Governorship elections results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) early Monday, 20 March, 2023 revealed the emergence of new governors in Katsina, Sokoto, and Jigawa states.
The results INEC released so far also showed that Governors Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, Gombe; Mai Mala Buni, Yobe; Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos; Seyi Makinde, Oyo; Dapo Abiodun, Ogun; and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Kwara have been re-elected.
This is just as collation in other states was either suspended or ongoing as of press time.
In Gombe, INEC declared the incumbent governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner.
The returning officer, Prof. Maimuna Waziri, of the Federal University, Gashua, said Yahaya scored 342,821 votes to defeat his closest rival, Muhammad Jibril Barde, of the PDP who polled 233,131 votes.
She said Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki of the NNPP came third with 19,861 votes, while Keftin Amuga Esau of Labour Party (LP) scored 1,753 votes to come fourth.
Prof. Maimuna said there were 1,575,794 registered voters, 618,231 accredited voters, 605,355 valid votes, 11,390 rejected votes and 616,745 total votes cast.
According to her, Yahaya won in nine of the 11 local government areas of the state.
With this victory, Governor Yahaya is the third consecutive governor of the state to win a second term in office after his predecessors – Muhammad Danjuma Goje in 2007 and Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo in 2015.
Similarly, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq was yesterday declared by the INEC as the winner of the governorship election held on Saturday.
AbdulRazaq, who sought a second term on the ticket of the APC, won in the 16 local government areas, according to the results announced on Sunday.
He scored 273,424 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Abdullahi Shuaib Yaman, who came second with 155,490 votes.
The returning officer and vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Prof. Isaac Itodo, said total valid votes were 460,497, rejected votes, 10,274, while the total votes cast were 470,771.
Reacting to the results, the chairman of the APC, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, said the victory implied that Kwara wanted the party at the state and national levels for good governance to continue, adding that people’s expectations would not be cut short.
Also, in Yobe State, Governor Mai Mala Buni was re-elected having won the highest votes in all the 17 local government areas of the state with a total of 317,113 votes. His closest challenger of the PDP, Alhaji Sharif Abdullahi, came second with 124,259 votes.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Umar Pate, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Kashere, Gombe State, said accredited voters were 459,492, valid votes, 444,567 and total votes cast, 457,781.
He said the candidate of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Garba Umar Alhaji Tsunami, got 14,246 votes; while Arabi Muhammad of Action Alliance (AA) scored 3,260 votes.
In Katsina State, the gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Dikko Radda, emerged the new governor. The returning officer, Prof. Muazu Abubakar, said Radda polled 859,892 votes to defeat his closest rival of the PDP, Yakubu Lado, who got 486,620 votes.
He said the results also showed that the NNPP candidate, Nura Khalil, won 8,263 votes, Imran Jino of the PRP got 4,226 votes; while Ibrahim Zakari of SDP got 1,049 votes. Labour Party’s Abu Musawa won 560 votes.
He gave the number of registered voters in the state as 3,516,719; accredited voters 1,399,291; valid votes 1,365,848; 20,579 votes rejected; while the total votes cast stood at 1,386,427.
The candidate of APC in Jigawa State, Umar Namadi, also emerged the new governor winning in 26 of the 27 LGAs with a total of 618,449 votes.
The returning officer, Prof. Zayyanu Umar of the Federal University Birnin Kebbi, said the closest challenger, Mustapha Lamido of PDP came second while the candidate of the NNPP, Aminu Ibrahim, came third
Umar, announced that Namadi scored 618,449 of the total votes cast to beat Mr Lamido who polled 368,726 votes.
Also, the governorship candidate of APC in Sokoto, Ahmed Aliyu, was declared winner of the 2023 elections having defeated Sa’idu Umar Ubandoma of the PDP.
Prof. Armiya’u Hamisu, the returning officer, said the APC candidate polled 453,661 votes; while the PDP candidate got 404,632 votes.
