Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Saturday’s governorship poll in Kogi State, Mr. Usman Ododo, has been declared winner of the election.
The State Returning Officer, Prof Johnson Urama, also the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, announced Ododo as the winner at 10:23pm on Sunday, saying he won the highest number of lawful votes in the election.
“Ahmed Usman Ododo of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Urama declared in a room crowded with party agents and election observers.
To clinch the coveted seat at Lugard House, Lokoja, Ododo scored 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who polled 259,052 votes, pushing Senator Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)to a distant third with a dismal 46,362 votes.
The APC swept over half of the 21 local government areas (LGAs) in the state collated in an exercise that ran till late Sunday.
The declaration of Ododo as governor-elect effectively terminates speculations that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, might declare the election inconclusive because of the suspension of the exercise nine registration centres at the Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of the state.
This was even so as INEC had, late Sunday, announced that fresh polls will be conducted in 59 polling units in the affected Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area on Saturday, November 18, 2023.
But the electoral umpire put a caveat that the conduct of the supplementary election in the 59 polling units would depend on “the decision to hold fresh elections is subject to the Returning Officer’s determination of the application of the Margin of Lead Principle”.
Ododo, a chartered accountant and an ex-Auditor General of Local Governments in Kogi State was the anointed candidate of his boss, Governor Yahaya Bello whose two terms of eight years terminate soon.
Melaye and some civil rights groups had on Saturday, raised the alarm over pre-filled result sheets in the Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area of the North Central state. The PDP candidate also called for the suspension of the exercise alleging widespread violence and massive vote buying.
Based on this, INEC suspended election in nine wards in the local government area.
In his declaration late Sunday, Urama said the total number of Permanent Voter Cards in the affected polling units was put at 16,247, one that was insignificant compared to the about 200,000 votes gathered by the APC candidate ahead of his closest rival – Ajaka.
The margin of lead implied that the elections initially scheduled by INEC for next Saturday in the 59 polling units would no longer be held.
Both Ajaka and Melaye have rejected the outcome of the poll, expressing disappointment in INEC and security agencies which they accused of collusion with the ruling APC in Kogi to rig the poll.
