* SDP, PDP reject result
Usman Ododo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in November 11 Kogi State gubernatorial election, has won the much-coveted seat of governor.
The State Returning Officer, Prof Johnson Urama, who doubles as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, announced Ododo as the winner at 10:23pm on Sunday.
Ododo won with 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who scored 259,052, while Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 46,362 votes.
Ododo, a former-Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi State under Governor Yahaya Bello, was the anointed candidate of the governor, who is ending his second term of eight years.
Melaye and some civil rights groups, on Saturday, raised the alarm over “filled result sheets” in the Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area.
The PDP candidate also called for the suspension of the exercise over violence and vote buying.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) subsequently suspended election in nine wards in the Local Government Area.
Late Sunday, INEC said fresh polls will be conducted in 59 polling units in the Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area on November 18, in line with its principle of the margin of lead.
The total number of registered voters in the affected polling units was put at 15,136, one that was insignificant to the about 200,000 votes gathered by the APC candidate ahead of his closest rival – Ajaka.
The margin of lead implied that the elections initially scheduled by INEC for next Saturday in the 59 polling units would no longer be held.
Both Ajaka and Melaye have rejected the outcome of the poll, expressing disappointment in INEC and security agencies, which they accused of collusion with the ruling APC in Kogi.