THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has declared the candidate of the All Progressive Party, Yahaya Bello, winner of the November 16 Kogi gubernatorial election.
The Returning Officer for the state election and Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Ibrahim Umar, declared him the winner at the INEC office in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
The collation was postponed till Monday because results of two local government areas arrived Lokoja late.
Bello and Wada’s vote were close until the arrival of the results from Ibaji and Lokoja.
According to Umar, a total of 1,646,350 people registered for the election while 636,202 were accredited to vote.
Umar said the APC’s candidate, Bello defeated his closest opponent, Musa Wada of the People’s Democratic Party in 12 local governments out of the 21 local governments in the state.
Bello polled a total vote of 406,222 votes to defeat Wada, who trailed behind him with 189,704 votes.
However, the Returning Officer of the PDP has refused to sign the results of the election, alleging electoral fraud.
Natasha Akpoti, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was able to garner total of 9,482 votes.
Foreign observers and civil organisations who monitored the election said the process was marred by vote-buying, violence and voter’s intimidation.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94