Nigeria 2015 Polls: Buhari leads with 2m votes as INEC declares 18 states & FCT only

Results from 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory 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.

He polled 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.

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.

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. 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.

...Punch