President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the Governor of Kogi State, Governor Yahaya Bello on his re-election as the Governor of Kogi State, for a second term.
The statement by President Muhammadu Buhari is coming after the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the Saturday 16th November 2019 Governorship election, defeating the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Musa Wada who came second.
President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement released on Monday 18th November 2019, said:
“Congratulations to Governor Yahaya Bello on his re-election. It was a race well run and a victory well won. I urge him to see his renewed mandate as another opportunity to build on the foundations already laid towards improving the lives of the people of Kogi State” he said.
Buhari also commended the efforts by INEC and security agencies during the election, while also commiserating with those that lost their lives during the election, saying:
“I commend INEC & security agencies for discharging their responsibilities under difficult conditions. The violence that took place, and loss of lives, by thugs doing the bidding of their political sponsors, is condemnable. There is no room in our democracy for electoral violence.
I commiserate with the families and loved ones of all those who lost their lives. All political actors and stakeholders must take deliberate steps to eschew electoral violence as a peaceful and orderly process is vital to our quest for enduring democracy.
“Let me enjoin Governor Bello to imbibe the spirit of magnanimity in victory by extending a hand of partnership to opposition candidates, and also ask that all those dissatisfied with the outcome of the election should, in seeking redress, approach the courts”.
The INEC Returning Officer of the election, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, had on Monday 18th November announced the results in Lokoja where he said Governor Yahaya Bello polled 406,222 votes to beat 24 other contestants, including Mr Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 189,704 votes.
Mrs Natasha Akpoti, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party came third by scoring 9,482 votes, Mrs Justina Abanida of the
African Democratic Party scored 706 votes to come fourth while the candidate of PDF came fifth with 624 votes.
Garba said that Bello having scored the majority of votes and other constitutional requirements is declared the winner.
He said that 636,202 out of the 1,636,350 registered voters in the state were accredited for the election out of which 624,514 eventually voted.
Garba gave total valid votes cast during the election as 610,744, the number of rejected votes was 13,770 while cancelled votes were 149,576 votes.