The Labour Party presidential standard bearer, Peter Obi, on Monday, caused a political earthquake in Lagos, defeating the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Saturday’s presidential election.
Tinubu, who is a former Lagos State governor, suffered what amounted to his very first political loss since 1999 when he has been dominating the politics of the state.
The APC presidential candidate had survived various attacks on his political stranglehold on the state over the years but the results of the election announced on Monday put the ex-governor on the back foot, causing shock waves across the country.
The state Collation Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof Adenike Oladiji, announced the final result for Lagos State after collating the results from 20 local government areas.
According to the results announced at the INEC collation centre in Yaba, Obi polled a total of 575,735 votes while Tinubu garnered 573,001 votes.
Obi won nine local government areas of the state.
The LGAs are Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Amuwo-Odofin, Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Somolu, Ojo and Alimosho
Tinubu triumphed in Agege, Apapa, Badagry, Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikorodu, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, and Surulere.
The PDP secured 75,750 votes while the NNPP had a total of 8,844 votes.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner for INEC Lagos, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, assured journalists and international observers present that the results were not tampered with by the commission.
Meanwhile, the ruling APC has welcomed the victory of Obi in Lagos, describing it as democracy at work.
In an interview with our correspondent the Director of Publicity of the party, Bala Ibrahim said, the defeat of Tinubu reflected the beauty of democracy.
On his part, spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo said the party knew what led to its defeat, adding however that its candidate had accepted the outcome in good faith.
On his part, the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, appealed to the people of Lagos State to be calm and eschew any act that can lead to a breakdown of law and order.
This is even as the former Lagos State governor stated that he would ‘accept the outcome of the presidential poll’, whether favourable or not.
In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by APC Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu urged for calm and orderliness among the residents of the State.
There was apprehension among traders following attacks by hoodlums who invaded markets at Ladipo, Balogun, Mandilas, and Ebute Ero, among other markets in the Lagos Island and Mainland areas of Lagos State on Monday.
The PUNCH gathered that during the attacks, the hoodlums took advantage of the tense moments to rob unsuspecting members of the public, including some traders operating in the markets of their valuables.
Our correspondents gathered that different narratives had been trailing the circumstances surrounding the attacks that sent shivers down the spines of residents and traders operating in the affected markets.
However, the Lagos State Police Command, in its reaction to the attacks, said the hoodlums who attacked the traders were enforcing compliance with the directive that no trader should operate in the market on Sunday and Monday.
But regardless of the setback in his home state, Tinubu is still sustaining his popular lead as he was declared the winner of the presidential election in Jigawa as the collation of results continued across the country.
In Jigawa State, he polled 421, 390 votes to defeat his closest rival, former vice president Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party who came second with 386,587 votes while the New Nigeria Peoples Party garnered 98,234 and LP, 1,889.
Announcing the results, the collation officer for the 2023 presidential election in Jigawa State, Prof. Arma-Ya’u Bichi of the Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina State, said the election was conducted peacefully.
He explained that the total number of registered voters was 2, 341,441 and total votes accredited was 961,670, while the total votes cast was 954,805 and the invalid votes, 34,274.
The APC candidate also took an early lead in Sokoto State where he is ahead in the 10 local governments so far declared by the INEC in the state.
So far, the ex-Lagos state governor has scored 101,608, Atiku garnered 98,080 while Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP came third with 314 votes and Obi of the Labour Party secured 171 votes.
But Atiku dominated the political milieu in Gombe and Adamawa States.
In Gombe, he scored the highest votes of 319, 123 in the 11 local government areas of the state.
Announcing the results at about 1am on Monday, the Gombe State Collation Officer, Prof Maimuna Waziri explained that Tinubu came a distant second with 146,977 votes in the poll which was reported to be generally peaceful.
Waziri, who is the Vice Chancellor of Federal University Gasua, put the total registered voters in the state at 1,549,243 while accredited voters were 542,997.
She also explained that the total votes cast stood at 533,778, while the total valid votes stood at 510,043. The rejected votes during the election were 23,735.
In the same election, the LP polled 26,160, while the NNPP got 10,520 votes.
In his home state, Adamawa, the PDP standard bearer coasted home to victory defeating his closest challenger, Tinubu, by a wide margin.
According to the collation officer in the state, Prof. Mohammed Mele, Atiku scored a total of 417,611 votes against Tinubu’s 182,881 votes and Obi’s 105,645 votes.
NNPP’s Kwankwaso came fourth with 8,006.
The state collation officer hinted that 764,834 voters were accredited out of the 2,186,465 registered voters.
In Plateau, the LP candidate is leading other presidential candidates with the highest number of votes cast in the state.
From the results so far announced at the INEC Collation centre in Jos on Monday, the ex-Anambra state governor won in 11 out of the 17 LGAs of the state.
While Tinubu won in two of the LGAs, Atiku came top in one LGA.
As of the time of filing this report, results from two council areas were still being awaited.
But overcoming the setback in Plateau, the PDP emerged winner in Yobe State as Atiku polled 198,567 votes.
According to the results announced on Monday by the state collation officers, Tinubu came second with 151,459 votes.
The NNPP candidate polled 18,270 votes while Obi trailed with 2,406 votes.
Atiku scored a similar victory in Akwa Ibom State where he scored 214,012, according to the INEC Returning Officer in the state, Prof Emmanuel Adigio.
On the other hand, the APC and LP standard bearers had 160, 620 and 132, 683 votes, respectively.
Out of the 31 LGAs in the state, Atiku won 22, while Tinubu won six with Obi winning the urban cities of Uyo, Eket and also Ibiono Ibom councils.
The state has a total number of 2,357,418 registered voters but only 594,450 were accredited to vote.
However, Atiku’s winning streak in Akwa Ibom failed to get traction in Kano where he and Obi trailed behind Kwankwaso and Tinubu.
In Rivers, the APC was declared the winner in 10 of the 13 local government areas so far collated in by the electoral commission.
Among the 10 councils won by the APC is Ikwerre, the LGA of the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
The Collation Officer for Ikwerre LGA, Prof. James Kpolovie, disclosed this while presenting the result to the state collation officer, Prof Charles Adias at the INEC office in Port Harcourt on Monday.
From the results, the APC polled a total of 9,609 to defeat the LP and the PDP which polled 8,752 and 4,869 to come second and third, respectively.
The other LGAs won by the APC so far are Opobo/Nkoro, Asari-Toru, Abua-Odual, Bonny, Omuma, Gokana, Emuoha, Eleme, Tai, Akuku-Toru.
Meanwhile, the LP has so far won in Bonny, Ahoada West and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni councils.
The PDP on its part won in Andoni, Okrika and Ogu/Bolo LGAs.
The state collation officer has called for a break pending when the remaining LGAs, including Governor Nyesom Wike’s Obio/Akpor will turn in their votes.
The APC candidate has also won in four of the six local government areas where the presidential election result has been declared. There are 18 LGAs in Cross River State.
They include Etung LGA where the candidate got 2713 votes, while the LP flag bearer got 2345 votes followed by Atiku who got 2149 votes.
In Abi LGA, Tinubu got 8011 votes followed by Atiku who scooped 5943 votes and Obi who polled 3557 votes.
In Akpabuyo, Tinubu got 5970 votes followed by LP with 4314 and PDP 3950 votes. In Odukpani LG, Tinubu had 8597, Atiku 3911 and Obi 2704 votes.
The LP won in Calabar South and Yakurr LGAs.
Similarly, the LP candidate scored the highest votes in Saturday’s presidential election in Nasarawa State.
Obi secured 191,361 votes closely followed by Tinubu who obtained 172,922 votes while Atiku garnered 147,093 votes.
Obi was declared the winner in Edo State by the state Collation Officer, Prof. Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, who affirmed that the LP candidate polled 331,163.
The LP won in 12 Local Government Areas of Igueben, Esan Central, Esan North-East, Egor, Esan South-East, Esan West, Uhunmwonde, Orhionmwon, Ovia South-West, Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha and Ovia North-East, while the APC won in Owan West, Owan East, Akoko-Edo, Etsako Central, Etsako West and Etsako East.
Ndaeyo, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom, further clarified that Tinubu scored 144,471 to finish second, Atiku had 89,585, while Kwankwaso got 2,743.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has defeated closest rival, Tinubu of the APC with 109,913 votes in Bauchi State.
The State Collation Officer of the presidential election in the state, Prof. Abdulkarim Mohammed, the Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, announced the results
