JOY ANIGBOGU 

The power of incumbency may seem to have worked in favour of the governors seeking reelection in the 2023 general elections as most of them coast home with landslide victory.

Even though the just concluded governorship election was marked by what analysts described as unprecedented violence as some Governors were reported to have used their powers to make things work in their favour or that of their choice candidates.

One may not really say if the victories of the nine governors who sought reelection and won their second term in office can be attributed to the use of the power of incumbency but the chief security officers of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Yobe, Gonbe, Nasarawa, Kwara, Adamawa and Bauchi States have been celebrating their victories since the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared them winners.

Apart from Adamawa State Governor, Umaru Fintiri who has not been officially announced as winner, even though the figures available showed that he won his closed rival, Aisha Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who won in eight Local Government Areas (LGAs), while Fintiri won in 13 LGAs of the state.

The results of the 2023 governorship election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across the country show that almost all the governors seeking re-election won their polls.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, Mohammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, and Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State won their reelection bid,

INEC in the early hours of Monday declared Babajide Sanwo-Olu incumbent Governor of Lagos State as winner in Saturday’s gubernatorial election.

Sanwo-Olu won 19 out of the 20 local government areas in the state, and with the result, Governor Sanwo-Olu has been re-elected for another four years term to lead Nigeria’s largest commercial hub.

Governor Sanwo-Olu was announced winner of the gubernatorial election at about 1:18 am at the state headquarters of the INEC in Yaba, by the Returning Officer, Adenike Temidayo Oladiji.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 762,134 votes to defeat his closest rival, Gbadebo Rhodes Vivour, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) who scored 312,329 votes.

Olajide Adediran popularly known as Jandor, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), placed a distant third by scoring 62,449 votes.

The total valid votes is 1155678, the rejected votes is 17953, while the total votes cast in the election is 1173631.

The total number of registered voters is 7060195, while the number of accredited voters is 11628.

Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni has been declared winner of the recently conducted 2023 Governorship and State Assembly elections. He was returned as the Executive Governor of Yobe State for the second term in office.

INEC made the declaration on Sunday in Damaturu, Yobe State capital.

Announcing the result, the State Returning Officer, Professor Umar Pate said that Mai Mala Buni of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 317,113 to defeating, Sheriff Abdullahi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 104,259 respectively.

Incumbent Governor of Gombe State and APC flag bearer in Saturday’s governorship election, Mohammad Inuwa Yahaya has been declared winner by INEC.

Inuwa beat his closest rival and the PDP flag bearer in the race, Mohammed Jibrin Barde with 342,821 votes against Barde’s 233,131 votes to clinch a second term in the Gombe State Government House.

Announcing the results, the Gombe State Collation Officer for the election, Prof Maimuna Waziri, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Gashua, said Inuwa won in nine out of the eleven Local Government Areas of the State.

The Returning Officer also announced that Gombe State had 1,575,794 registered voters with 618,231 accredited for the election.

Valid votes during the election were 605,355 out of the 616,745 votes while 11,390 were recorded as rejected votes.

Also INEC declared the governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, the winner of Saturday’s election in the State.

The state returning officer, Professor Kayode Adebowale, said Abiodun of the APC, scored 276, 298, to defeat his closest rival, Ladi Adebutu of the PDP, who scored 262, 383 votes.

Bauchi-Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has won Saturday’s governorship election for a second term in office.

Bala Mohammed of the People Democratic Party (PDP) polled a total of 525,280 votes to beat the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar who scored a total of 432,272. The governor won 15 out of the 20 local government areas of the state.

The result declared by the Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for Bauchi State, Professor Abdulkarim Sabo Mohammed, showed that the PDP won the election with a margin of 93,003 votes.

Professor Abdulkarim Sabo Mohammed, who is the Vice Chancellor, Federal University Dutse (FUD), Jigawa State, said there were 2,’749,268 registered voters in the state.

He said that 1,058,381 voters were accredited while the total votes cast in Saturday’s poll were 1,049,600. He said that the total valid votes were 1,0343,79, while a total of 15,221 votes were rejected.

According to him, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNP) candidate, Senator Haliru Jika polled 60,496 to emerge the third in the contest.

In Oyo State, the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP and incumbent Governor of the state, Engr Seyi Makinde has won 31 local government areas out of the 33 announced by the state’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday.

INEC declared Seyi Makinde, candidate of the PDP, winner of the Oyo State governorship election.

The governor, who is seeking reelection, is contesting against a three-term Senator, Teslim Folarin of the APC, and former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chief Adebayo Adelabu of Accord, among other contestants.

Teslim comes a distant second in the governorship race ahead of Adebayo Adelabu of the Accord Party.

The Returning Officer, Prof Adebayo Simeon Bamire announced the result on Sunday in Ibadan, the state capital.

Makinde polled 563,756 to defeat the candidate of the APC, Senator Teslim Folarin who polled 256,685 and other candidates.

Adamawa Governorship: PDP’s Fintiti scores majority votes to defeat Binani

After the announcement of results from Adamawa’s 21 local government areas, Mr Fintiri polled more votes than Binani.

Adamawa State Governor and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, has won the majority of the votes cast in Saturday’s election.

Although Mr Fintiri has yet to be formally declared the winner of the election, at the time of this report, the results of all the 21 local government areas in the state have been announced at the INEC collation centre in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

The announced results shows that Mr Fintiri scored a total of 421,522 votes, while his closest challenger, Aisha Dahiru of the APC, scored 390,275 votes from the 21 local governments.

As of Monday morning, Mr Fintiri was leading Mrs Dahiru, popularly called Binani, after the results of 20 local governments had been announced. But the APC candidate was hopeful of securing a large victory in the remaining local government, Fufore.

Fufore’s results were announced Monday evening, and although Binani won in Fufore, it was not enough to close the margin of victory of Mr Fintiri.

In total, Mr Fintiri won in 13 local governments while Binani won in eight.

The race to the Adamawa government house was a closely contested one between the two candidates.

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State has been declared the winner of the 2023 governorship election in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The governor won the poll to serve a second term of another four years in office under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The governor, beat the two-third requirement and won in all the 16 local government areas of the state in the election results declared by the INEC Returning officer for the polls, Professor Isaac Itodo, the

Vice Chancellor, University of Markurdi, Benue state.

Abdulrazaq polled 273,424 votes to beat his closest rival, Alhaji Yaman Abdullahi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 155,490 votes in the election.

The INEC had on Saturday night started an announcement of the 2023 governorship election results with only that of three local government areas with the governor clearing the three local government areas of Ekiti, Isin and Offa local government areas.

At the resumed announcement of the election results on Sunday morning, which lasted till evening the APC governor also won in additional 13 local government areas across the state.

INEC declared Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State the winner of the gubernatorial election held on Saturday, March 18, 2023.

Announcing the result this morning in Lafia, the state returning officer, Professor Tanko Ishaya, noted that Sule having garnered the highest votes is declared the winner of the election in Nasarawa State.

Governor Sule got 347,209 votes to defeat his closest rival, Dr David Emmanuel Ombugadu of the PDP who scored 283,016 votes.