2015 ELECTIONS: The presidential election winner will be announced today......INEC

The INEC chairman,Jega has said that despite the extension of
Saturday's elections till Sunday in some parts of the country, the
results of the presidential poll will be declared today
INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, gave the assurance as some of
results from wards, local government areas and states continued to
emerge on Sunday.
For instance, results from Osun and Ogun states showed the All
Progressives Congress Presidential candidate, Maj.Gen. Muhammadu
Buhari, defeating President Goodluck Jonathan.
But in Ekiti State, Jonathan had an easy ride as he beat the APC candidate.
Jega, who gave journalists an update on the conduct of the polls in
Abuja, said that as of Sunday evening, results of the elections had
only been completely collated in two states, one of which was Ekiti.
He said, "Some people assume that when I said 48 hours( for the
release of the results), it starts from the morning the elections
commenced. It is 48 hours after elections have ended, like
yesterday(Saturday).
"You start counting 48 hours from yesterday (Saturday) when
substantial majority of the polling units ended elections."
The INEC chief expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the polls,
which he said held in a substantial number of polling units across the
country, including the troubled North-East zone where internally
displaced persons voted in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states.
"We are pleased that the elections went on smoothly in a substantial
number of polling units across the country, including the North-East
where the commission was also able to conduct voting for Internally
Displaced Persons in the three states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno,"
Jega said.
He said that out of more than 150,000 card readers used for the
conduct of the polls , only 300 failed, representing about 0.25
per cent of the total number of machines.
"It is also gratifying to note that the card readers worked well in
the majority of polling units, even though there were areas where
difficulties experienced necessitated additional guidelines to allow
for manual accreditation of voters, as announced yesterday
(Saturday)," Jega said.
He stated that manual accreditation was done in some polling units in
Osun, Kebbi, Ekiti, Adamawa, Borno, Jigawa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom and
Ebonyi states."
Jega said the elections were extended and concluded on Sunday in
nine states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Taraba State has the highest number of 116 polling units where the
polls were extended.
Other states where the number of polling units where the elections
were extended are Lagos (90), Kebbi (16), Adamawa (25), Niger (six ),
Yobe (37), Borno (eight), Jigawa (37), Kano (13) and FCT (two).
He also rejected the claim by the spokesman for the PDP Presidential
Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, that his party had won in
certain number of states.
Jega, who said Fani-Kayode should be asked the source of his figures,
stated that as of the time he was addressing the journalists on Sunday
evening, collation had only been concluded in two states. He said that
the results from the two had yet to arrive Abuja in the manner that
it could be announced.
The chairman said, "You said somebody in one of the parties said the
PDP is winning in 23 states. I don't know the sources of his
information. I know result have not been collated in 23 states.
"May be you should direct the questions to him and let him explain."
He advised journalists "to be careful about reporting this kind of
information that is being put out there by people who are clearly
partisan."
He also debunked speculation that he was under pressure to declare
results of the presidential election inconclusive.
"We are not under any pressure to declare inconclusive elections. In
fact, I wonder who will be interested in declaring the election
inconclusive. I think candidates will be interested in being declared
winners and not to have the election declared inconclusive," Jega
said.
The INEC boss said his office had on Sunday morning received petitions
from the APC in Rivers State calling for outright cancellation of the
elections in the state.
He assured the petitioners that the commission would consider all the
complaints, including the allegation of presence of some underage
voters and substitution of some members of the commission's ad hoc
staff with untrained partisan persons in Rivers and Lagos states.
However, results from Osun State showed that Buhari recorded victory
in 22 out of the 24 Local Government Areas so far announced by the
state INEC. He had 264,734 votes.
Jonathan,who won the remaining LGAs – Ife Central and Ife East –
scored 192,288 votes.
The results were announced in Osogbo by the returning officers for
each of the LGAs on Sunday.
Also in Ogun State, the APC presidential candidate defeated Jonathan
in 13 out of the 20 LGAs whose results were announced by INEC.
He polled 308, 290 votes while Jonathan scored 207,950 votes.
The APC candidate for the Ogun Central Senatorial District, Lanre
Tejuoso, defeated PDP's Abisola Sodipo-Clark, the wife of an Ijaw
national leader, Edwin Clark.
Tejuoso scored 115, 197 votes while Sodipo-Clark had 30,036 votes. The
sitting senator for Ogun Central and Social Democratic Party's
candidate, Olugbenga Obadara, got 15,124 votes.
Jonathan, however, had it easy in Ekiti State where he polled 176,466
votes from 16 councils in the state. Buhari garnered 120,331 votes.
The result was announced by the state Returning Officer, Prof. Adebiyi
Daramola, to party officials on Sunday.
It was also a sweet victory for the PDP as it won all the three
senatorial and six House of Representatives seats in the state.
Impliedly, by implication two of the APC senators – Anthony Adeniyi
and Olubunmi Adetumbi – who contested the poll will not join their
colleagues in the eight National Assembly.
Gbenga Olofin, the third APC candidate for Ekiti Central was defeated
by Fatimat Raji-Rasaki, wife of a former Lagos State military
administrator, Brig.-Gen. Raji Rasaki of the PDP.
The elected House of Representatives seats are Kehinde Agboola,
Ayotunde Oladimeji, Thaddeus Aina, Olamide Oni, Akin Awodumila and
Segun Adekola.
While In Kogi State, Buhari was leading by polling 108,817 votes from
six LGAs as against Jonathan's 84,555 in five LGAs.
One od the APC candidate also won in Dekina, the LGA of Governor Idris
Wada with 18, 819 votes to Jonathan's 13,885 votes. He also won in
Amadu Alli's LGA of Idah with 10,445 votes to Jonathan's 6,113.
There was a mild tension in parts of Imo State on Sunday as armed
officials of the Department of State Services, the Police and the Army
barred journalists from collation centres in the state.
At the collation centre in Owerri Municipal Council Secretariat,
journalists were turned back from the gate by stern looking security
operatives who asked them to go back and wait until the results were
announced.
All efforts to reach the Resident Electoral Commissioner, George Ada,
were abortive as his telephone was switched off.
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