11:06:00
Shola Alade
Jonathan loses at Aso Villa units
•Sambo, Agbaje, Ribadu, Bode George, Obanikoro, Fani-Kayode, others lose at units
Some heavyweight politicians lost their polling units in yesterday’s elections.
A major loss by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is the one at the two polling units in front of Aso Villa – the Presidential abode.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari won in the two units.
Buhari got a total of 613 votes, while Jonathan polled a total of 595 votes.
Vice President Namadi Sambo got the same treatment in the former polling unit (Kabala 005) in Kaduna where the APC received overwhelming majority of votes.
The APC scored 386 votes to beat the PDP that scored 53 votes in the presidential election. APC got 385 and 369 votes in the senate and house of assembly elections respectively while the PDP got 59 and 62 respectively.
The results were announced by the presiding officer Abdulfatah Ali.
In Lagos State Governorship candidate Jimi Agbaje’s Apapa polling unit the APC won 126 votes while PDP won 60.
In the senate contest, APC polled 129 while PDP won 61.
In the House of Representatives race, APC won 126 while the PDP won 62.
PDP governorship candidate in Adamawa State Nuhu Ribadu failed to deliver his Yola polling unit to Jonathan.
In the presidential contest APC won 320 votes to PDP’s 124 while in the senatorial race, Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) candidate won 271 votes to PDP’s 73.
PDP Southwest leader Chief Olabode George’s Evans Street polling unit on Lagos Island also fell to the APC candidate who took it narrowly with 109 votes to PDP’s 108.
Minister of State Foreign Affairs 2 Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro lost in his bid to deliver his unit to Jonathan.
Minister of National Planning, Dr. Sulaiman Abubakar, failed in his polling unit 006, Ode-Opobiyi Agbaji area (Ilorin West Local Government Area) in the presidential election with 146 votes to 39.
PDP Presidential campaign council spokesman Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode also could not deliver his unit. He voted in Ile Ife, Osun State.
At PG Hall Ife Centre 013/11, the APC candidate scored 127 to PDP’s 45 votes.
But Vice President Namadi Sambo won his polling unit at Police College unit with 105 votes to the APC’s 20.
But Kaduna State APC Governorship candidate Nasir El Rufai got 430 votes in his Urgwan Sarki’s unit for the APC candidate to PDP’s 11.
Ex-Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and Senator Ahmed Makarfi (Kaduna) also failed to deliver.
Ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar won his Ajiya polling unit in Adamawa State for Gen. Buhari with 280 votes to Jonathan’s 60 votes.
At APC Presidential running mate Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s VGC unit in Lekki, Lagos, the APC won 718 votes to PDP’s 138.
Some other unit results are:
APC wins in Obasanjo’s unit
At Obasanjo’s polling unit ward, APC polled 98 against PDP’s 8 and SDP 12 for the House of Representatives seat. For Senate, APC got 93, PDP 8 and SDP 15.
Results at ex-Governor Bola Tinubu’s voting unit 047 in Alausa Ikeja.
Presidential APC 180, PDP 55, Senate APC 181 and PDP 53, Reps: APC 61
Senator Tinubu’s unit 034 Ikoyi, Lagos
Presidential: APC 106, PDP 25
Senate: APC 103, PDP 16
Reps: APC 103, PDP 16
Governor Fashola’s State Grammar School, Surulere 002
President 318, PDP 135
Senate APC318, PDP 129
Rep APC 326, PDP 114
House minority leader Femi Gbajabiamila Elizabeth Fowler PU 014
President APC 123, PDP 81, Senate APC 118, PDP 64
Rep: APC 124, PDP 46
Ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi’s polling unit 09 Ward 11 Isan Ekiti
President APC 140, PDP 24
Senate APC 135, PDP 21
Rep APC 142, PDP 22
Senator Gbenga Ashafa’s Bogije polling unit in Ibeju Lekki
President APC 385, PDP 250, Senate APC 406, PDP 236 and Rep APC 386.
The APC candidate has also won the election in the two polling units 021 and 022 inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The total votes scored in the two units showed that APC got 597 votes while PDP garnered 567 votes.
Sorting and counting for the presidential election in the two units are still ongoing.
Gunmen storm polling unit, set materials ablaze in Bauchi
Some unidentified gunmen on Saturday stormed a polling unit in Bagurun Primary School of Darazo local government area of Bauchi state, firing gunshots sporadically into the air and forcing voters to scamper for safety.
This is contained in a statement signed by the spokesman of the Bauchi State Police Command, DSP Haruna Mohammed, and made available to newsmen.
The statement said the gunmen arrived at the place in six vehicles and thereafter gathered all election materials and set some of them ablaze.
“The timely intervention of combined security forces, comprising the Police and Army, forced the suspects to abandon their mission and escape to unknown destination,
“This enabled the electorate to put off the fire and save both the sensitive and non-sensitive materials.
“Normalcy was restored in the area and the electorate continued casting their votes unhindered under tight security,” he said.
Mohammed also confirmed the arrest of a 24-year-old man, Abdul Umar, in possession of a locally made pistol, seen loitering around Katako ward of Warji town in the state.
The statement said Abdullahi Samaila and Nasiru Adamu also found in possession of 29 permanent voter cards at Marga Primary School Polling Unit of Ganjuwa local government area were also arrested.
According to the statement, INEC Smart Card Reader machine and some election materials at Jauro Gani Village Polling Unit of Alkaleri local government area of the state were snatched by unknown persons.
However, the Community Head of Goro area of Dutse Alhaji in Bwari Area Council of Abuja, Mr Abubakar Bako, said the 2015 elections could turn out to be the country’s best.
Bako, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the electorate had shown unparallel zeal to ensure their votes counted.
He said the elections had put an end to voter apathy and complacent toward politics by the people.
“What we are witnessing today in this community is unprecedented and we hope to keep flame burning.
“The turnout is so impressive because since I began participating in elections this has been the most participated,’’ he said.
Mr Bryan Sims, an international election observer, expressed displeasure on the attitude of some of the electoral officers.
“In Abuja city, there were incidences of late delivery of INEC materials and these had caused the delay in the process in some areas.’’
He, however, described voters’ calmness to expression of maturity and readiness to nurture the country’s democracy.
Lagos: Voting to be concluded in 5 LGAs on
Sunday- REC
Mr. Akin Orebiyii, the Lagos State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC, says voting will continue in five Local Government Areas of the state on Sunday.
Orebiyii made the disclosure at a press conference on Saturday night in Lagos, while giving an update of the presidential and national assembly election in the state.
He said that voting would continue on Sunday in five council areas of Alimosho, Oshodi-Isolo, Kosofe, Eti-Osa and Somolu.
“The commission advised that as a result of the time lost in tackling the challenges encountered with the smart card readers at some voting points, we should conclude the exercise tomorrow (Sunday).
“So, wherever it has not been concluded, it will be rounded off tomorrow.
“We observe that the electoral process will not be concluded in few polling units across five local governments in Lagos State.
“The local governments are Alimosho, Eti-Osa, Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, and Somolu,’’ he said. Orebiyii said that the specific polling units in the affected areas would be announced in the early hours of Sunday.
According to him, there will be some restriction of movement in the affected areas but it will not affect religious worship.
He said that the accreditation would hold from 10:00am to 2:00pm while voting would commence at 2:30pm till the last person duly accredited voted.
NAN reports that some prospective voters had difficulties with their accreditation because of the malfunctioning of smart card readers in some units in the state.
The challenge made the commission resort to the use of electronic voter register for accreditation in the state.
This delay made voting to start late in many polling units across the state.
Scores of APC members shot dead in Rivers
•100 others arrested
•Rejects outcome of elections
•Amaechi refuses to vote
Scores of members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State were killed and maimed as the presidential and national assembly elections got underway across the country yesterday.
One of the victims, an APC member in Ward 3, Unit 2, Ogale-Eleme, was allegedly killed by a soldier attached to a prominent leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Eleme, Eleme local government area.
The deceased was among the APC members who had put up resistance to an attempt by the PDP chieftain to use soldiers guarding him to hijack electoral materials in the area.
The police later came to remove the body, even as another soldier was shot dead at Wimpey-Port Harcourt.
His death was confirmed by the Commander, 2 Brigade of the Army, Bori Camp, Brigadier General Koko Essien, although he gave no details of the killing.
However, eye witnesses said the late soldiers was in a truck with his colleagues on Friday night when gunshots were unexpectedly fired at the vehicle, fatally hitting him.
Many other APC members were disenfranchised, party chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, said in a statement through his spokesman, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze.
He blamed “armed militias working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)” for the attacks.
“Scores have already been killed and several others marked for elimination. This morning (yesterday) in Kpite Town, Tai Ward 2 and other areas of the state, five people were shot dead by PDP’s armed militia, and that was before accreditation commenced,” Ikanya said in a statement to which the photographs of the victims were attached.
He said PDP and its agents targeted APC strongholds and chieftains for attacks and killings, citing examples.
These include Chidiebere Okwuwolu, a former Commissioner and currently an APC leader, said to have been arrested by police and taken to Olu Obasanjo Police Station in Port Harcourt along with 99 other arrested APC members scattered in various police Stations in the state.
He said that at Ubima, the home town of Governor Chibuike Amaechi, “the INEC results sheets are currently with Chief Nyesome Wike, the gubernatorial candidate of PDP in Rivers State while at Andoni, his (Ikanya) the Local Government Area of Rivers State APC Chairman, the National Vice Chairman of PDP and his cousin, Tele Ikuru (the Deputy Governor of Rivers State who few days defected to PDP) “hell has been let loose; electoral materials have been hijacked by PDP agents in connivance with the army that has been threatening to arrest and kill any APC chieftains in sight.”
He also alleged that the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Andoni Local Government area, Esuku Esuku, was “ordered out of Ngo, headquarters of local government, by the Joint Task Force (JTF)/army personnel deployed to Ngo, or be killed.”
Continuing, he said: “At Abonnema, headquarters of Akuku-Toru Local Government, materials are being distributed from the house of Minister of Sports, Chief Tammy Danagogo, instead of the INEC office, without any security personnel. Danagogo has held the policemen that ought to escort these materials to the polling units hostage and injuring DPO of Abonnema, Mr. Joseph Kayode for daring to accompany Hon Isobo Jack the Commissioner for Urban Development to the Polling Unit, relevant pictures attached.
“PDP thugs hijacked materials and INEC personnel meant for Akuku-Toru Wards 15, 16 and 17. The hijacked materials and men were taken to Freetown, a hinterland coastal community. The attack was led by two youths whose identities are known.
“In Tombia, in same Akuku-Toru local government, PDP had by Friday night filled the community with Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) bouncers who were attacking APC members and, at the same time, preventing those returning home to vote from entering the town. They were doing so in the presence of soldiers who were too few in number. The Caretaker Committer Chairman and others were injured on Friday. The over 30 APC members that were to act as agents were arrested.
“In Buguma, which is the Headquarters of Asari-Toru Local government, policemen were busy all day arresting APC chieftains.
“In Gokana Local Government, trained INEC ad-hoc personnel were replaced with untrained manpower suspected to be PDP members. This is believed to have been done in connivance with the LGA Electoral Officer (EO).
“At Opobo/Nkoro, the Local Government Area of Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, the gubernatorial candidate of APC, the house of Opobo/Nkoro Caretaker Committee Chairman, Loveday Jaja, was torched after he escaped to avoid being killed by the PDP hoodlums. Electoral materials meant for the Local Government Area have been diverted to John Africa/Ada Tom Pepple Compound area where they are thumb-printing in favour of PDP. Another person Alafagha Oko-Jaja had his head broken head and he is seriously bleeding. No one is sure if he will survive.
“The army has been going around the community harassing people while Chiefs in Kalaibiama are compelling them to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan of PDP. This is said to be on the orders of Chief of Army Staff, Major-General Kenneth Minimah, who is also from the town.
“A PDP Agent in Unit 006 Ward, Oopbo/Nkoro was caught with INEC Register and fake results sheet at the polling Unit.
“At Oyigbo LGA, 40,000 incident forms were being given out at 6:30 a.m. but they stopped when the APC Agent complained about it. He was however asked to leave the INEC office at about 11:30 a.m. Already, 120,000 incident forms have been to Port Harcourt LGA, 80,000 to Obio/Akpor and 50,000 to Ikwerre LGA. The incident forms are one of the ways PDP plans to use to rig the elections around the country, especially in the South South and South East.
“”In Okrika, there was sudden change and appearance of fresh and inadequately trained INEC ad-hoc staff who tried to persuade voters to undergo manual accreditation, claiming that card readers assigned to Okrika LGA polling booths were not working (even without trying them). In a few units where APC supporters insisted on ‘No Card, No Accreditation’, the card readers mysteriously began to work. But in majority of the places manual accreditation is being undertaken.
Also in Okrika, there is insufficient delivery of electoral materials by INEC. Up till now no one, not even party agents, has seen the original result collation sheets. The INEC officials claim it is not everything that they must explain. Meanwhile, INEC delivered incident forms far excess of the number of registered voters.”
Ikanya said that on the hand, PDP stalwarts were “openly parading bundles of PVC cards in their possession.”while one of them accompanied by police and PDP thugs armed with guns, went round chasing away APC members from doing accreditation. “
Dr Ikanya passed a vote of no confidence on the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Gesila Khan for,in his view,failing in her duties .
“Whatever trash she will announce as the result of today’s (yesterday’s) election is not acceptable to us and we ask for her immediate transfer and a new date be set for a proper election in Rivers State than the sham and charade that was calculated to rubbish INEC and democracy,” he said.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi refused to be accredited in his Ubima hometown after INEC officials faied to produce result sheets for the elections.
Information Commissioner Ibim Semenitari told reporters that Amaechi took the decision because “he could not subject himself to accreditation when the required election material meant for his unit could not be accounted for.”
South West, North favour APC’s Buhari
•South South, South East go for Jonathan •Massive turnout nationwide
The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari seems to have found favour with most of the voters in four of the nation’s six geo-political zones in yesterday’s election.
General Buhari, according to indications from across the country, got the nod of most voters in the Northwest, Northcentral, Northeast and Southwest, in what observers, local and foreign, described as the nation’s most crucial polls ever.
His performance matches substantially The Nation’s projections on the elections.
Nigerians defied all odds -erratic performance of the card readers, late arrival of electoral materials, rain, thuggery, manipulation and terrorism mainly in the Northeast -to troop out possibly as never before to vote for the next president, senators and members of the House of Representatives.
In Sokoto, Makurdi, Akure, Jos, Minna, Abeokuta, Abuja, Lagos, Benin, the story was the same of enthusiastic Nigerians determined to take their destiny in their hands.
General Buhari, accompanied by his wife, Aisha, voted in his Daura, Katsina home town after accreditation with the aid of the card reader which took no more than two minutes each.
But accreditation was a tough nut for President Goodluck Jonathan and the First Lady, Patience , at the president’s Otuoke hometown.
Four times they tried to use the card reader to verify their finger prints, four times they failed.
The President’s mother, Madam Eunice, passed the card reader’s test easily.
Jonathan’s verification and his wife’s were eventually done manually, the same method adopted in other places where the card reader failed.
INEC extends voting; website hacked into, restored
Following complaints from other parts of the country about the inability of the card readers to identify voters’ finger prints, and to avoid disenfranchising voters, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) granted extension of voting till today at polling stations where accreditation could not be completed on time yesterday.
As it battled with complaints of malfunctioning card readers, a group calling itself Nigerian Cyber Army/Team NCA hacked into the commission’s website
However, INEC’s computer engineers went to work as soon as the hacking was detected and were able to re-host it.
The hackers posted the following on the website: “StruCk By Nigerian Cyber Army | TeaM NCA”
“Sorry xD Your Site has been STAMPED by TeaM Nigerian Cyber Army FEEL SOME SHAME ADMIN!!”
“Security is just an illusion, Remember US :DGREETINGS OF PEACE TO CITIZEN OF NIGERIA FROM TEAM NCA NIGERIANS No Body Can Give You Freedom No Body Can Give You Equality Or Justice If You Are A Man/Woman YOU TAKE IT”
The Commission directed all Resident Electoral Commissioners in the country to conduct election on Sunday in areas where there were hitches.
The list of the affected areas and states was still being kept under wraps as at the time of filing this report.
INEC however said it could not still exactly say what went wrong in Otuoke, Bayelsa State which led to the delay in the accreditation of President Jonathan and his wife.
The Chairman of the Information, Voter Education and Publicity Committee of INEC, Dr. Chris Iyimoga, at a press conference in Abuja admitted that INEC encountered some challenges in the use of Card Readers.
He said the guidelines for the 2015 General Elections had been amended to empower Presiding Officers to “manually accredit voters by marking the register of voters, upon being satisfied that the person presenting a Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) is the legitimate holder of the card.”
Flanked by other National Commissioners including Dr. Ishmael Igbani; Alh. Muhammadu Wali; Nuru Yakubu; and Gladys Nwafor, Iyimoga said INEC will “thoroughly investigate what happened in some parts of the country where hitches were recorded.”
His words: “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been monitoring field reports on the accreditation process since the commencement of the poll this morning.
“Whereas the process has gone well in several places, in some others it has encountered some challenges, especially with the use of the Card Readers. Consequently, accreditation has been slow in many places and has not commenced at all in some others.
“Even though the Guidelines for the Conduct of the 2015 General Elections provide that where Card Readers fail to work and cannot be replaced, elections in such Polling Units will be postponed to the following day, the scale of challenge we have observed today has necessitated a reconsideration of this provision of the Guidelines.
“The Commission, has, therefore, decided as part of the Guidelines for the conduct of the 2015 General Elections that in Polling Units where Card Readers have so far failed to work, the Presiding Officer shall manually accredit voters by marking the register of voters, upon being satisfied that the person presenting a Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) is the legitimate holder of the card.
“The above notwithstanding, in Polling Units where accreditation was suspended to the following day in accordance with the existing guidelines, arrangements will be made for voters to vote tomorrow, subject to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010( as amended).
“The Commission reassures the voting public that it will thoroughly investigate what happened, while it remains committed to the delivery of free, fair and credible elections in spite of the challenges.”
Iyimoga, who responded to questions from newsmen with his fellow National Commissioners, said all the 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners(RECs) had been directed to conduct poll on Sunday where there were hitches.
He added: “We cannot say at the word go now but each REC of the Federation has been informed. The problems are not in all the states of the country but in a few states of the country and each of the RECs has been informed. We can only get the details at the end of the day.
He said generally the commencement time was quite good across all borders.
He said: “Generally we commenced accreditation at a very good time, in FCT for instance we had a problem with the Union of Transport workers but that was sorted out.
“I want to assure we have made progress,. In fact I had to vsit the office of Resident Electoral Commissioner of the FCT and while there two observer teams, including that of the US Ambassador, were on ground to see us. They had gone round a number of Polling Units and at about 12 noon, about 85-90 per cent where he visited he was very impressed. And this cuts across. This does not mean we don’t have challenges in other states.
“In a few other states of course there were still some challenges but generally the commencement time was quite good across all borders.
“Like we said and we will keep saying, we can only do our best but there are still other parameters that take us through what we can call an excellent election.
“The process of election has to do with many people. Remember that for our adhoc staff to move out, for instance, we decided to decentralize the process. Sensitive materials were kept in the CBN vault and in one of the day or so they were taken to INEC offices in the states.
“By Thursday they were distributed to Local Government Areas, and then took them down toward level and at the Registration Area Centres (RACS) the items were kept. The belief therefore was that as early as 5.30 to 6am, movement to the various Polling Units would have commenced but INEC does not move alone, before you move there must be security backup.
“So there are numbers of issues and processes that go through making the entire thing play well. Generally it has been quite impressive apart from these few challenges I just talked about right now.
On the delay in accrediting President Goodluck Jonathan and First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, a National Commissioner, Dr. Ishmael Igbani, said INEC could not say what went wrong.
Igbani said: “No one can really say what went wrong. The machine, the Card Reader did not pick the finger print of Mr President and Wife but those who were attended to earlier on their finger prints were picked.
“But part of the process in using the Card Reader is that when such a situation occurs, we will use the incident report and that is what the President and the wife were accredited to vote.”
Regarding the hacking of INEC website, Engr. Nuru Yakubu said all the contents on the website had been relocated to another site.
He said: “Our ICT experts reported that our website was hacked and that it was down, and they worked very hard and were able to rectify the problem by simple lifting all the contents on our site and relocating it to another location.
“So the INEC website as I speak with you now is up and running.”
I hope to win, says Jonathan after voting
President Jonathan, after his accreditation, later returned to polling Unit 39, Ward 13 to cast his vote.
Asked by reporters about his chances in the election, he said “You can see that it’s peaceful everywhere. I believe and I’m convinced that the elections will be free and fair and extreme credible.”
He said the gunfire in Gombe was not related to election, adding that the shooting was between soldiers and insurgents attempting to escape from the Sambisa forest.
The president refused to blame the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the hitches encountered in some areas, saying everyone could still vote with the alternative arrangements.
“We appreciate the patience of those who are yet to vote. They should sympathise with INEC. It wants to use the card readers to make sure that our electoral process is credible and acceptable by international observers.
“This is the first time we are voting with the card readers. There have been some issues in some units, but we should bear with them. I believe that at the end of the day we all will be happy,” Jonathan said.
Asked about his assessment of the election based on information available to him, he said: “I have information but it is not everything that I can say. INEC has the responsibility to talk about their functions. There are complaints about PVCs and card readers not working.
“At the same time INEC has directed that in polling units where the card readers are not working, they should take the manual option, so I believe all Nigerians who want to vote will definitely vote, and that is the good news.
“The only thing is that some people probably must have stayed there longer than necessary. But I still plead with them that even if they spend 24 hours for the sake of this country, please they should bear with us, they should do it,” he said.
On INEC, Jonathan said the government is one, and the commission cannot be held solely responsible for the hitches.
He said: “I don’t blame anyone. But as a nation, we have different departments of government that handle responsibilities. The issue of election is INEC’s exclusive responsibility, and nobody will speak for them.”
Few hiccups can’t undermine these election, says Buhari
Gen. Buhari, speaking to reporters in Daura after voting at Sarkin Yara A, Kofa Barau 3 polling unit in Liman ward said the hiccups in a few places should not be allowed to undermine the integrity of the election.
The General who was wore a white babanriga , a stipend cap and black shoes to match arrived the polling unit at about 4.47 to a rousing reception and shouts of Sai Baba by voters who were practically falling over each other to catch a glimpse of him.
He said: ” I like the integrity of the system. I am very pleased about it. That means that if people are allowed to vote, rigging will be virtually impossible. I think that INEC has done very well and I have said it to your colleagues elsewhere that from their presentations to the National Council of States which I happened to be a member, this time around, INEC has done extremely well”.
He however admitted that the card reader failed to work in some areas, put expressed satisfaction with the decision of INEC to allow election to hold on Sunday in places where elections could not hold on Saturday.
“I must admit that again, I am happy with the decision take by INEC that in places where election has not taken place, it will take place tomorrow. From the information we are getting which has not been confirmed, there is failure of some of the card readers.
“For example, it took me less than five minutes for accreditation. When I came back home, I was watching on television and it took the President about 30 minutes to be accredited. But it took his wife and mother about two minutes each to do it. There is discrepancy in the performance of those gadgets. For INEC to give the notice that because of failure in some of the equipment, elections will continue tomorrow where elections did not happen today”.
On whether he would accept the outcome of the election if the results did not go his own way, he said “My way is Nigeria’s way . Even before the first Abuja peace accord,I had told my supporters not to be rude or take up weapon against any Nigerian.
“After that, we signed the first Abuja accord presided over by Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations which we all signed as Presidential candidates and the recent one signed three days ago between me and Jonathan presided over by General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Bishop Kukah and Bishop Onaiyekon and two others.
Speaking on the alleged intimidation of APC supporters in Rivers State, Buhari said he spoke with Governor Rotimi Amaechi ” and I think that what has been happening in Rivers state is a continuation of the hostility between the ruling party the APC. It is so real and the governor has been fighting and today, it got out of hand. ”
Sambo reverts to old polling booth
Vice-President Namadi Sambo and his wife, Amina relocated from their old polling unit, Camp Road to Swimming Pool Road in Kabala Ward in Kaduna to vote yesterday .
The development might not be unconnected with the outright defeat the VP faced in all the polls in the 2011 general elections.
But, Sambo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Umar Sani, said, the VP only reverted to his original polling unit and commended INEC for bringing back Sambo and his wife to their original polling unit.
Sambo himself who spoke to newsmen shortly after casting his votes, described the exercise as smooth and peaceful.
?Meanwhile, ?a man suspected to have fixed a network jammer in his car to disrupt the card readers escaped being lynched by irritate youths who queued to be accredited at Kasuwan Barchi area of Tudun Wada in Kaduna metropolis.
According to an eyewitness, the suspect jammed card readers at a polling unit in Tudun Wada from his car packed close to the polling unit.
His manipulation was said to have succeeded in stopping the card readers from working for some times.
Card Reader dysfunction not severe – PDP chair, Mu’azu
Reacting yesterday to complaints about the card readers,the PDP National Chairman, Malam Adamu Mu’azu, said the situation was not as bad as being portrayed.
The percentage of the technical hitches encountered with the card readers during the accreditation was not beyond tolerance, he said in his Boto, Bauchi State hometown.
He rejected calls for the cancellation of the use of Card Reader machines for the accreditation of voters.
“I cannot arbitrarily call for the cancellation of the usage of the Card Readers and the Permanent Voter Cards. I know professor Jega to be a successful and courageous intellectual and so far he has done very well,” Premium Times quoted him as saying.
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