Buhari gets 2m votes.. INEC declares 19 states,......SEE RESULTS

19 states results so far released by the Independent National
Electoral Commission on Monday showed the All Progressives Congress
Presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari coasting to
victory.
Buhari scored 8,520,436 votes in the states and the FCT while his
Peoples Democratic Party counterpart and incumbent President Goodluck
Jonathan had 6,488,210 votes.
The Daura, Katsina State-born former Head of State won 10 of the
states and Jonathan, eight plus the FCT.
The states cleared by Buhari are Kaduna, Kwara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa,
Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Kogi and Ogun.
Jonathan captured Abia, Anambra, Nasarawa, Enugu, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom,
Imo, Plateau and FCT.
South-West states, Buhari won in Oyo, Ondo, Osun, Ogun but lost in
Ekiti where he garnered 120,331 votes. Jonathan polled 176,466 votes
in the PDP-controlled state.
Buhari polled 299,889 votes in Ondo, 308,290 in Ogun, 528, 620 in
Oyo and 383,603 in Osun while Jonathan had 251,368; 207,950;
303,376; 249,929 respectively.
The results from Lagos State are yet to be announced.
Expectedly, the President held sway in the South-East by scoring in
Abia, 368,303 votes; Anambra, 660, 762; Enugu,553,003; Ebonyi, 323,653
and Imo, 559,185.
Buhari had 13,394 votes in Abia State; 17,926 in Anambra; 14,157 in
Enugu; 19,518 in Ebonyi and133,253 in Imo.
ZovoeJonathan/Remi Latinwo
INEC only announced the results from only one of the six South-South
states before it shifted further action till Tuesday(today). The state
is Akwa Ibom where Jonathan had 953,304 votes against Buhari's 58,411.
Jonathan also had the upper hand in the FCT where he garnered157, 195
votes ahead of Buhari's 146, 399.
In Kwara State, the former Head of State recorded 302,146 votes;
1,127,760 in Kaduna; 1,345,441in his home state of Katsina;
885,988 in Jigawa; 1,903,999 in Kano; 236,838 in Nasarawa; 264, 851in
Kogi and 429,140 in Plateau.
Jonathan had 132,602 in Kwara; 484,085 in Kaduna; 98,937 in Katsina;
142,904 in Jigawa; 215,779 in Kano; 273,460 in Nasarawa; 149,987 in
Kogi; and 549, 615 in Plateau.
Saturday's election was the fourth time Buhari was taking a shot at
the Presidency. In 2003 and 2007, he flew the flag of the defunct
All Nigeria Peoples Party and in 2011, the Congress for Progressive
Change.
Hours before the results were announced , Jonathan met behind closed
doors with some foreign observers who monitored the presidential and
National Assembly elections.
Those he met with were a former Ghanaian President, Kuffour, who
is the leader of the ECOWAS Elections Observers; a former Liberian
President, Amos Sawyer, leader of the African Union Election
Observer Mission; a former Malawian President and Head of Commonwealth
Election Observer Mission, Bakili Muluzi; and the AU Commissioner for
Political Affairs, Ambassador Aisha Laraba Abdullahi.
The meeting which started inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja at
about 3.30pm was also attended by Vice-President Namadi Sambo and a
few presidential aides.
US, UK warn against manipulation of results
As the meeting was ongoing, the United States and the United Kingdom
expressed concern over what they called "disturbing indications" of a
"deliberate political interference " in the collation process.
The UK Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, and the US Secretary of
State, John Kerry, in a joint statement posted on www.uk.gov, said
"there are disturbing indications that
the collation process – where the votes are finally counted – may be
subject to deliberate political interference."
Warning politicians not to undermine the independence of INEC, they
said their observations so far showed that there had been no
evidence of systemic manipulation of the process.
According to them, any plot to change the results would contravene the
letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord, to which both major parties
committed themselves.
The statement read,"The governments of the United States and the
United Kingdom would be very concerned by any attempts to undermine
the independence of the electoral commission (INEC) or its Chairman,
Prof (Attahiru Jega); or in any way distort the expressed will of the
Nigerian people.
"Our governments welcome the largely peaceful vote on March 28. The
Nigerian people have shown a commendable determination to register
their vote and choose their leaders.
PDP rejects results in Kano, six other states
The PDP, apparently sensing defeat had earlier on Monday called on
INEC to cancel the results in Kano, Gombe, Kaduna, Jigawa, Katsina,
Bauchi and Kogi states.
The party said its call was necessitated by what it called massive
irregularities in the seven states.
The Deputy National Chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, at a news
conference in Abuja alleged that irregularities such as underaged
voting, night voting and harassment of PDP supporters took place in
the states.
But in Rivers State where the state chapter of the APC also called for
the cancellation of the elections, INEC said it had sent a three-man
committee to investigate alleged irregularities that characterised
the conduct of the polls.
The committee headed by the Supervisory National Commissioner for
the state, Thelma Iremirem, has M.K Hammanga and Lai Olurode as
members.
A statement by the Secretary to the commission, Augusta Ogakwu,
explained that the action was necessitated by the call for the
cancellation of the elections in the state by the APC.
Ogakwu said in the statement that the members of the committee had
left for a fact-finding mission to the state.
The statement read, "Further to the allegation made by the APC on the
conduct of the presidential and National Assembly elections on
Saturday in Rivers State and its call for the cancellation of the
exercise, INEC has set up a fact-finding mission to ascertain the
veracity of the claims and allegations and to advise the commission
and the Chief Electoral Commissioner/Returning Officer for the
presidential elections."
Firstclassnewline.net