Presidential election: Buhari in early lead in Lagos as INEC declares results of 15 LGAs

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari. (Photo by Audu MARTE / AFP)

President Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in early lead as INEC collated presidential election results of 15 local government areas of Lagos state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that APC won in most of the local government results declared so far in the much awaited collation.

The exercise commenced at the INEC Office, Yaba and it has been nonstop since Sunday night.NAN reports that the President defeated his closest rival of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the Apapa, Ikorodu, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikeja, Epe, Badagry and Lagos Island local government areas election results announced and submitted.

Other local governments where the APC led are Agege, Ifako Ijaiye, Lagos Mainland, Mushin, Oshodi-Isolo.However, PDP defeated APC in Surulere, Eti-Osa and Ojo in the results declared as at few minutes to 8.0 a.m on Monday.

The election results were presented and accepted by the state collation officer, Prof. Felix Salako, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun.

The collation officer for Apapa LGA, Abiodun Babalola, who read the results, said that APC polled 18,170 votes while PDP scored 11, 295 votes in the council.

Apart from the People Coalition Party (PCP) that scored 238 votes and African Democratic Congress (ADC) that polled 108 votes, all other 69 political parties scored less than 100 votes each in the council.

Babalola said out of the total registered voters of 186, 649, only 33, 095 were accredited for the poll.

He said that the total valid votes were 30, 680, the rejected votes were 1914 while the total votes cast were 32, 594.

The collation officer for Ibeju-Lekki LGA, Prof. Abduhamid Suleiman, said that APC polled 12,179 votes while the closest rival party, PDP scored 9, 222 votes.

Apart from the Accord Party that also polled 2,168 votes, PCP that polled 170 votes, African Action Congress (AAC) that scored 111, all other parties got below 100 votes each.

According to Suleiman, out of the total registered voters of 109, 731, only 26,568 were accredited for the poll.

He said that the total valid votes were 24, 668, the rejected voted were 1327 while the total votes cast were 25, 995.

He added that the total valid votes were 36, 021, the rejected voted were 1967 while the total votes cast were 37, 988.

For Epe LGA, the collation officer, Dr Babatunde Adeoye, said that APC polled 17, 710 votes while the PDP scored 13, 306 votes.

Apart from PCP that scored 185 and AAC that got 53 votes, every other party got below 50 votes in the local government.

Also, the collation officer for Ikorodu LGA, the Collation Officer, Ilupeju Akanbi, said that APC polled 40, 719 votes while the PDP got 21,252 votes.

Apart from AAC that polled 410 votes, ADC that scored 184 votes, ANN that got 196 votes, DPP that polled 109 votes, PCP that had 375 votes and YPP that polled 215 votes, other parties got belowe 100 votes.

The Collation Officer for Badagry LGA, Prof.Adetokunbo Demiloye, said that APC polled 21, 417 votes while PDP polled 17, 939.

The Collation Officer for Lagos Island LGA, Dr Adepoju Tejumade while presenting the council results said that the APC polled 27, 452 votes while the PDP got 7396 votes.

While AAC scored 192, PCP scored 191 votes while all other political parties scored less than 100 votes each in the council.

According to Tejumade, out of the total registered voters of 194, 738, only 38, 285 were accredited for the the elections.

Apart from AAC which got 212 votes, ADC that polled 109, PCP which got 384 and SNC that polled 155, all other parties score less than 100 votes.Prof. Carol Opara, the Ikeja LGA Collation Officer said that APC polled 23, 638 votes while the PDP 21, 518 votes in the council.

Apart from AAC that also polled 566 votes, ANN which scored 492, PCP that polled 413 votes, YPP that got 503 votes, ADC that got 108 votes and FRESH Party that got 123 votes, all parties got less than 100 votes.

In Ifako Ijaiye LGA, APC polled 33, 419 votes while the PDP scored 18,100 votes while in Mushin LGA, APC polled 43, 543 and the PDP had 20, 277.

In Oshodi/Isolo LGA, the APC polled 29, 860 and PDP polled 28, 806, whereas in Lagos Mainland, APC polled 22,684 and PDP 15, 137.In Agege LGA, APC scored 36, 443 and PDP got 16, 497 whereas in Surulere LGA, APC polled 30, 621 while the PDP garnered 31,603.

Meanwhile, in Ojo and Eti-Osa LGAs, PDP polled 29, 019 votes and 25, 216 votes respectively to defeat APC candidate who polled 24, 333 and 20, 962 respectively.

As at the time of filing this report, the centre was still awaiting results from Alimosho, Kosofe, Somolu and Amuwo-Odofin LGAs but that of Ajeromi-Ifelodun LGA had been brought and getting set for presentation as at 7:45am.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 73 presidential candidates participated in the Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections held across the 36 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

In the results declared so far by various returning officers, Buhari led his closest rival, Abubakar in the state with a wide margin

Earlier in his address of welcome before the collation commenced, Mr Sam Olumekun, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), commended the security agencies for the good job and called for sustenance of adequate security throughout the exercise.

Olumekun, who noted that nothing could be achieved without peace, however,frowned at the pockets of violence that greeted Saturday election in some areas of the state.

The INEC boss, who noted that violence, was not acceptable, urged stakeholders to channel their grievances to appropriate quarters.The collation had in attendance heads and representatives of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) members headed by the Lagos State Police Commissioner CP Zubairu Muazu.