THE presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has defeated his main rival Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Katsina State.
Abubakar secured a total of 489,045, while Tinubu polled 482,283 votes.
The PDP candidate won with a slight margin of 6,762 in the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, a member of the APC.
Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) who came third got 69,386 votes of the total valid votes.
Abubakar was declared winner of the poll by the Returning Officer of the state, Professor Mua’zu Abubakar Gusau, at the INEC Presidential Election Collation Centre in Katsina.
Although Tinubu won in 21 local government areas (LGAs), Atiku, who won in 13 areas, went ahead to defeat the APC candidate. The state has 34 local government areas.
Abubakar won in the following LGAs: Batsari, Mashi, Kurfi, Batagarawa, Dutsinma, Kusada, Mani, Kankia, Kankara, Bakori, Jibia, Katsina and Safana.
He also secured significant votes in the other LGAs where Tinubu led.
The total number of accredited voters was 1,097,663 out of the 3,516,719 registered voters recorded in the state.
The INEC Returning Officer in the state, disclosed that elections were cancelled in some polling units across the LGAs due to thuggery, insecurity, resistance, violence and over-voting and obstruction.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M