- Atiku salutes Ortom, Tambuwal, Bala Mohammed
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmed Aliyu and Senator Aliyu Wamakko have called Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party to congratulate him on his victory in the election.
The Twitter handle of the Sokoto Government House revealed the congratulatory calls, moments after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) formally declared Tambuwal winner of the election.
He won by a small margin of 342 votes.
Aliyu was Tambuwal’s deputy until Tambuwal dumped the All Progressives Congress to join his old PDP, in order to run for the presidential election. Aliyu resigned and became the candidate of the APC to run against his former boss.
Wamakko was Tambuwal’s predecessor, who eased Tambuwal’s path to become governor in 2015.
According to the Chief Collation/Returning Officer, Prof. Fatima Mukhtar, Tambuwal of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured the highest votes of 512, 002, defeating his close rival, Alhaji Ahmad Aliyu of All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 511, 660 votes.
“PDP candidate, Aminu Tambuwal having scored the highest votes in the election, is hereby declared winner and returned elected according to law” Mukhtar said.
Mukhtar, who is the Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa state said the votes were tallied along with previous ones recorded after the March 9 election.
The election then was declared inconclusive because the vote difference between Tambuwal and his challenger was lower than the cancelled votes.
The total number of registered voters was 1, 887, 767 while 1, 083, 413 voters were accredited.
Total number of valid votes was 1,036,332 and the total number of rejected votes was 31, 662. The number of total votes cast was 1, 067, 994, Mukhtar said.
According to her, during the re-run election, PDP’s Tambuwal polled 22, 444 votes while APC’s Aliyu scored 25, 515 in the 135 polling units where supplementary elections were conduced.
She further explained that 49 candidates from other participating parties shared the remaining votes cast.
However, the APC agent at the collation centre, Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi raised the complaints the party made to INEC earlier about the malfunctioning card reader at a polling unit in Tambuwal.
Dingyadi added that election was repeated at the polling unit, after lawful election was conducted on March 9 election.
The PDP agent, Alhaji Umar Bature, dismissed the objections on the ground that the collation centre was not the right placeto lodge the complaint.
Prof. Mukhtar noted the complaint and said that it would be reflected in the final report.
For former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the victories of the candidates of his party in Bauchi, Sokoto and Benue states are an acknowledgement from the Nigerian people that PDP is the only truly national party in Nigeria.
In a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe on Sunday night, Atiku congratulated Governor Aminu Tambuwal on his re-election and assured the people of Sokoto State that they have made the right decision that will see them continue on the path to peace, progress and prosperity.
He also congratulated Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on his re-election.
“Mr. Ortom is not just a credit to the PDP, he is also an epitome of servant leadership which he urges all and sundry to emulate. With him again at the helm of affairs in Benue, the people of the Breadbasket of the Nation can look forward to times of refreshing and deliverance,” he stated.
Atiku extended solidarity with Alhaji Bala Mohammed for winning the Bauchi State supplementary election, just as he congratulated Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, who have made a great impact in Kano states assuring that his victory is within reach.
“They have shown that they are men of the people and we are convinced that much good will come out of these men of enviable talents and leadership ability,” Atiku noted.
He equally congratulated the Peoples Democratic Party and all its members on these gains stressing that PDP is the true bastion of democracy and should be encouraged by these victories.
According to him, with unity within its midst, it will together continue to extend the boundaries of democracy and shrink the space occupied by tyranny.