Makinde, Abiodun, Buni, Yahaya, AbdulRazaq Reelected Govs, INEC to announce more results

Officially, seven of the 11 governors who sought reelection in the March 18 polls held across Nigeria in West Africa have been declared winners by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to return to office for another four-year term each.

They are Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State and Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.

Also, five newcomers have won governorship elections in the country — Umo Eno in Akwa Ibom State, Umar Namadi in Jigawa State, Dikko Radda in Katsina State, and Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto in Sokoto State.

Also Read: Dapo Abiodun wins Ogun state guber election

Of the 12, nine of them belong to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), two are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and one is a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Results of the other states are still being expected as INEC in some states has adjourned collation till Monday.

Governorship elections were held in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states on Saturday. The governorship and state assembly elections were held a week later than initially scheduled after a court case forced INEC to move them forward.

Eight of the 36 states — Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo — have governorship elections “off-season” due to litigations and court judgements.

In alphabetical order, the 28 states where governorship elections were on March 18 are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara.

Of the 28 states, 11 serving governors sought reelection while 17 outgoing governors are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, having been sworn in on May 29, 2015.