NIGERIA VOTES 2007 PART 1: ELECTION RESULT UPDATE

THE UPDATES (ONGOING BREAKING NEWS)
VERY IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
The counting of ballots is still going on and the results are trickling in. The information below is not the final figure but rather updates on the tallying and will change regularly. INEC HAS THE LAST WORD ON THE RESULTS AND UNTIL THEY CONFIRM LATER TODAY OR EARLY MONDAY -- THERE IS NO WINNER NO VANQUISHED -- MAY THE BEST CANDIDATE WIN O!!!! (my head is too precious)

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7:38 PM
Gombe State and Katsina have gone to the PDP

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6:20pm
IT'S OFFICIAL!!!! FASHOLA IS THE WINNER IN LAGOS STATE AS DECLARED BY INEC --
I hear his supporters singing, "FA-FA-FA-FA-FASHOLA!!!

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6:11pm

Inspector General of Police Sunday Ehindero has banned any public protest or demonstration in the country until further notice.

In other states

Oyo State -- The current deputy governor Otunba Adebayo Alao Akala was victorious in the keenly contested election against Sentaor ABiola Ajumobi.

Osun State -- Current state governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola won another term

Akwa Ibom -- went to sitting PDP governor Obong Godswill Akpabio.

Bayelsa -- Timipre Silva of the PDP

Rivers -- Went to Celestine Omehia of PDP

EDO -- result is still hanging

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5:35pm update (My internet went down, it has behaved today so I won't complain)

More updates for Lagos State
The losing candidates have formed an alliance against the AC in protest of the results. The parties in the alliance include PDP, Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA),Fresh Party (FP), Labour Party (LP), Alliance for Democracy (AD), Accord AND Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) They called a press conference which Deputy Governor and Labour Party candidate Femi Pedro was the spokes person. Musiliu Obanikoro one of the candidates said at the conference that he has never lost an election. He is alleging that Governor Tinubu's press secretary had a meeting with editors of newspapers where he instructed them to use 'Fashola Leads' as their Sunday morning paper headlines. He is also alleging that some Oba's took ballot boxes to their palaces.(nothing is impossible but can I say HABA that allegation!)
While their parties are LISTED in the Alliance, Jimi Agbaje of DPA and Uche Ohimai are distancing themselves from this particular alliance by not showing up or staying atthe meeting.



They also released a statement today and below is some information from it.
"Sadly the confidence was eroded by the irregularities and massive manipulations of the electoral process witnessed during and after the voting period." The include...

Violence at the pollint stations by the supporters and political thugs to intimidate voters and disrupt elections. Sporadic shootings and seizure of several ballot boxes containing votes already cast and taken to unknown locations by agents of a certain party. Absence of DPA, FP, Accord and PDP logos/candidate pictures on ballot papers used in polling centers in many LGAs. Suspicion of fake ballot papers, illegal extension of voting period announced bythe Lagos State government on Radio Lagos form 3pm to 6pm. (The extension was actually directed by INEC chairman Maurice Iwu in a press conference in Abuja, not the Lagos State government). Illegal voting in several locations into Sunday April 15. Shifting of collation centers from designated areas to unknown locations. New polling locations erected on the eve of election. Voting did not start until after 4pm in some areas including Pedro and Somolu areas. Collation centers were manned by local government chairmen and illegal relocation of polling centers to locations which were made inaccessible to other party agents by thugs and miscreants such as the case near the palace of Chief Olumegbon in Lagos Island.

These irregularities are so profound as to undermine teh integrity and legitimacy of the elction in Lagos. The memeber of the parties above were totally disenfrnachised while the good people of Lagos were denied the opportunity of free choice.
The election was neither free nor fair. The parties named above denounce the electionns and would have nothing to do with any results which may emanate from this sever;y compromised exercise. We reject the process and call for the immediate termination of the collation of the results and call for the cancellation of the election. A fresh election should be arranged immediately."

(DO THEY HAVE LEGITIMATE REASON FOR THEIR GRIEVANCES OR ARE THEY JUST SORE LOSERS?)


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2.50pm

Still on Lagos State-- AC is sweeping up results with their brooms (ha ha ha.. the party symbol is a broom). Just in from the INEC office four more local governments have gone to the broom toting party making that a total of 17 local governments to AC. PDP still has only one. I will have the break down later but for now here are the figures between the two major parties from the 4 LGA's

AC PDP
Somolo 45,193 15,348
Kosofe 47,181 18,880
Amuwo Odofin 19,564 7,556
Oshodi 44,283 23,395

The biggest beef with this election is that the pictures of several candidates were missing from the ballot paper. A majority of people in the country are illiterate and can only recognise politicians by their pictures. Many parties used very simple symbols like brooms, umbrellas and chicken so those were easily recognized. The question remains, how could this oversight have been made. But on a good note, Lagos seems to be calm FOR NOW. There's still tension over how 'area boys' will react to the results. Yes the nerve center of Nigeria if not the whole of West Africa is at the mercy of THE AREA BOYS.


In other happenings in Lagos, some candidates appear set for a showdown with INEC over irregurlarities in the election. Progressive Peoples Alliance house of Assembly candidate from Ikorodu ward 2, Taofeek Aroyewun is blaming INEC over his supporters inability to vote due to the absence of the party's logo on the ballot form. He is calling for a new election for that ward.

Meanwhile federal house of representative member and former 'working' journalist Abike Dabiri is giving INEC high marks despite it's short coming.


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2pm

Lagos State
AC looks like they will keep Lagos State. So far their candidate Babatunde Fashola aka 'FASH' has picked up 12 while PDP's Musiliu Obanikoro aka 'KORO-KORO' has only 1. Lagos state has 20 LGA's. Looks like Obanikoro has beed 'FASH-IED' in Lagos and Koro supporters have been 'KORODED'. (kudos to Jimi Agbaje and Uche Ohimai for putting up a good campaign, I hope they will get opportunities to serve Lagosians by being appointed to some position because they are very intelligent people )

Borno State
ANPP candidate Ali Modu Sheriff will retain his governorship seat and get a second term. He pretty much has the state in his palms so this result is not surprising. He was the godfather of the past governor Mala Kachalla during the 1999 election.


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1:15

Delta State

The PDP candidate for Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan has won the governorship seat there. Uduaghan is a cousin of the current governor James Ibori also of the PDP. (Guess they are trying to keep it in the family)


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1pm
Abia State
It only gets better. The PPA candidate in Abia State, Theodore Orji has been declared winner in Abia State. Theodore Orji is currently in detention in a Lagos Prison. He is being held by the EFCC on charges of alleged corruption and money laundering (current state gov and presidential candidate for the PPA Orji Uzo Kalu and his mother are implicated in the same case). Orji throughout the campaign period did not really do much of any campaigning.(hmh...coincidence or share luck of a cat with 9 lives).

Orji got 225,289 votes while Onyema Ugochukwu of the PDP got 136,858 votes. Onyema Ugochukwu has sworn to challenge the results saying it was definitely rigged and this would be the last time such would happen (doesn't he just wish...if that's truly what happened)


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12:43pm
IMO STATE
Election in Imo State has been decalred null and void and hence cancelled. The reason given for this is that voting did not take place in 4 local governments. If you can recall the choice PDP candidate Engr. Charles Ugwuh was not certified by INEC because Ifeanyi Ararume won the primaries and was the rightful candidate that the party should have picked up as their flag bearer. After a court ruling in favor of Ararume last week, the PDP expelled him from the party and declared they did not have a candidate in Imo State. (I was expecting problems but not on the scale of cancellation)

EDO STATE

Youths in Benin have besieged the INEC office in the city threatening to raze down the building if their choice candidate the former Labour Union leader, Adams Oshiomole is not declared winner (like they say in MFM --mountain of Fire and Miracles church -- BY FIRE BY FORCE)

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12:00 UPDATE

Gbenga Daniel of the PDP who is the sitting governor of Ogun State clinches a second term with 426,132 votes


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11.22AM

In Ekiti State, tthe PDP gov candidate Olusegun Oni has been declared winner. He scored 177,689 votes. The INEC resident electoral officer Gabriel Okafor announced that this morning. If you recall he was accused of pre-rigging. See this article from the Daily Champion


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10:45AM

Looks like the results for Lagos state are in Babatunde Fashola's favor. He is the candidate from the incumbent party in the state the ACtiuon Congress. PDP's Obanikoro apparently stormed out of the I-NEC office visibly upset and is about to all a press conference. The PDP is also protesting the delay in the release of the results. The party said it has lost confidence in I-NEC and that any result announced afterwards will not be acceptable to them. The PDP attributed this to manipulation by AC. The AC is expressing confidence in INEC.

AIT, a major television station is now operating out of their Out Broadcast van because their headquarters in Alagbado was set on fire.


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The election results are trickling in from the I-NEC office this morning. The time now is 9.47am. I am aware that some people are very interested in detailed results for Lagos State. Below are the few that have come out for the state

Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos Island and Apapa have gone to Babatunde Fashola of the Action Congress (AC) while Ibeju Lekki has gone to Musiliu Obanikoro of the PDP.


OYO (updated)
I-NEC in Oyo State has released 26 results of the State house of Assembly election. The ANPP 11, the PDP won 13 seats, the Action Congress got 4 seats while the Labour Party got only 1. There are 32 House of Assembly seats in the State.


Stayed tuned to this spot as I will be updating with results for the next 2 hours until we go into the Silverbird News live studio at noon. You can ofcourse watch that online at www.jumptv.com.