GOV’SHIP POLLS: INEC Chairman, Yakubu, present for Kogi results collation, as protests rock Bayelsa
There is heavy presence of security operatives at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
The electoral body conducted governorship election in the North-Central state on November 11, 2023. Similar poll was also held on Saturday in Imo and Bayelsa states.
Already, the exercise has been concluded in Imo with the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodimma of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) declared the winner of the election.
In Kogi, however, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, was physically present at the state headquarters of the commission in Lokoja on Sunday morning.
The collation is scheduled to begin by 10 am on Sunday. However, at the time of filing this report on 10:40, the exercise was yet to commence.
Meanwhile, the results from 12 local government areas out of 21 local government areas in the state are said to have arrived.
In Kogi, the total number of registered voters is 1,932,654 and PVCs collected is 1,833,160 with youths taking a lump 44% (850k) and the middle-aged having 32% (341K).
Some of the top contenders in the November 11, 2023 poll in Kogi include Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); Leke Abejide of the African Democratic Party (ADC); Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is an ex-Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi under Governor Yahaya Bello, who is nearing completion of his double terms of eight years in office.
Protests rock Bayelsa
A day after the governorship election held in Bayelsa, serving commissioners and members of the state House of Assembly have laid siege to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Yenagoa, the state capital.
At the INEC office on Sunday, the aggrieved lawmakers and commissioners insisted that the election did not be held in the Nembe Local Government Area of the riverine state.
However, there was tight presence of security operatives at the INEC office to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
Earlier on Saturday, Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, accused the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in the state, Timipre Sylva, of being behind electoral violence recorded in the Nembe-Bassambiri area of the state.
Diri, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the poll, is seeking re-election for another four years in office. He spoke on Saturday after he cast his vote in the poll.
“We have been raising the issue of the violent character and person of Timipre Sylva. Over the years, in every election he is involved in, you experience violence, you experience lawlessness, and even in Nembe-Bassambiri, the name and the character behind what is happening in Nembe-Bassambiri is Timipre Sylva,” Diri said.
Sylva was first Bayelsa governor from May 2007 to April 2008 and later between May 2008 and January 2012. He was also the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources from 2019 to 2023.
