It was all pumping of hands and back slapping yesterday in the camps of Governors Monday Okpebholo (Edo State), Charles Soludo (Anambra), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) as early results of the by-elections in parts of the country went hugely in favour of the candidates they had spent much time campaigning for in the last few months.

On the contrary, the candidates of ex-Kaduna State Governor Nasir El Rufai and those of Labour Party Presidential candidate in 2023, Mr.Peter Obi, had an outing to forget.

The elections were generally peaceful although there were reports of violence in Nnewi, Anambra State and Shanono, Bagwai and Ghari in Kano State.

The Kano State Police Command confirmed that it arrested 288 suspected thugs during the exercise.

Found in possession of the suspects were bows and arrows, daggers, cutlasses and charms.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called for the cancellation of the Kano election in view of the violence blamed on supporters of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Several party functionaries and a few officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were arrested in Kaduna and Ogun states for being in possession of huge sums of money allegedly earmarked for compromising the electoral process.

Early returns from the polling booths showed that landslide victories awaited the APC senatorial candidate in Edo Central Joseph Ikpea and the party’s flag bearer in Ovia North East/Ovia South West Federal Constituency of the state, Omosede Igbinedion.

Omosede is the daughter of the Esama of Benin Kigdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion.

The 90-year-old Chief Igbinedion defied a downpour to vote at Polling Unit 7 in Okada.

Omosede polled 450 votes while the PDP and ADC got one vote each at the end of voting there.

She had contested for the same seat in 2023 on the platform of PDP but lost to APC’s Dennis Idahosa who vacated the seat following his election as Deputy Governor last September.

Her PDP opponent yesterday, Mr. Johnny Aikpitanyi, stormed Benin City to complain about alleged intimidation of voters.

He claimed that over 150 thugs and vigilance group members were deployed to intimidate voters at Oghede polling unit in Ovia North East.

Governor Okpebholo voted at Ward 2, Unit 1, Udomi Primary School in Esan Central Local Government Area but expressed frustration at the slow pace of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used at the polling booth.

“Well, I just voted. You can see the frustration. The BVAS is just too slow. It takes too long before you can get accredited.

“I think INEC needs to look into this. So far, so good, the feelers I’m getting are good,” he told reporters.

He was until his election as governor the senator from the district.

Abiodun confirms supremacy over Adebutu in Remo

Governor Abiodun notched up one more victory over his close rival, PDP’s Ladi Adebutu, with the massive votes for the APC House of Representatives candidate for Ikenne/Shagamu/Remo North, Adesola Elegbeji.

The APC had run away with a narrow victory against the PDP in the 2023 election in the constituency.

When a vacancy occurred last year following the death of Hon. Adewunmi Onanuga, the PDP thought it was time to revenge only for the voters to decide otherwise.

Mr Bolarinwa Oluwole, PDP candidate in the by-election accused the APC of deploying thugs to chase voters away from polling units in the constituency.

He said the thugs targeted strongholds of the PDP to cause violence. He claimed there was no by-election in Ogun.

It was double embarrassment for the PDP in the state as the party was linked with an attempt to bribe its way to victory in the election.

The Ogun State Police Command confirmed the arrest of two individuals identified as INEC officials and others for alleged electoral offences in Iperu Remo, Ogun State, during the by-election.

The police spokesperson in the state, CSP Omolola Odutola, who confirmed the arrest through a statement, said the suspects were arrested at about 0045hrs by a police patrol team attached to the Iperu Remo Division.

CSP Odutola said that a Mitsubishi Spacewagon vehicle marked Lagos AKD 887 HT with three occupants – Mr. Toryem Joe-Stans and Ms. Mandara Aminat, both officials of the INEC, were intercepted in Iperu alongside the driver.

She explained that while the police patrol team was searching the vehicle, it discovered and recovered cash sum of two million five hundred thousand naira (N2,500,000.00) from Joe-Stans Toryem.

The police spokesperson added that during interrogation, he confessed that the money was collected at Kehoy Hotel, Iperu, Ogun State from a man he referred to as “Political Solution.”

According to Odutola, the Commissioner of Police, Ogun State Command, CP Lanre Ogunlowo, had directed the transfer of the suspects to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Eleweran.

Soludo, former Anambra Speaker decry violence in Nnewi

Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo and the immediate past Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon Rita Maduagwu, deplored the violence that almost marred the Anambra South Senatorial District by-election.

Leading contestants for the seat left vacant by the death of APC’s Ifeanyi Ubah were Emmanuel Nwachukwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Azuka Okwusa of APC, Donald Amamgbo of Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) and Christian Ubah of PDP.

But it was the APGA candidate that seemed to have got the majority of the votes.

Of note is the poor showing of ADC’s Amamgbo for whom Mr. Peter Obi had campaigned vigorously.

Obi, a former governor of the Anambra State, got 584,621 votes in the state alone during the 2023 presidential election.

Soludo told reporters shortly after casting his vote at his polling unit 002, Ofiyi Square, Isuofia ward in Aguata Local Government Area that the state Commissioner for Environment, Dr Felix Odimegwu was assaulted by an opposition party during the by-election in the state.

“Just in the last few minutes, I got a terrible report from Nnewi South. The news is not palatable but predictable, because when you see you are losing, you begin to unleash violence to disrupt the electoral process,” he said.

“My Commissioner was in pains and crying that the APC governorship candidate in Anambra took truckload of police and thugs and was going from one polling unit to another beating up people, including the commissioner.

“That is shocking but not unexpected. That is what you do when you are desperate. I understand they are losing even in his ward.

“Let the people vote and let their votes count. That is what we are asking. But we are confident that at the end of the day, the people’s will must prevail,” he added.

A similar complaint of intimidation came from the APC.

It said its members and agents were being arrested by agents of the state government.

Four polling agents of the APC were allegedly taken away by a local government chairman, provoking a protest by youths in the area.

Hon Rita Maduagwu, told The Nation that APGA supporters invaded her Ukpor Ward 3,009 to unleash mayhem on the voters

“Ukpor in Nnewi South had never witnessed such violence during election,” she said.

APC agents in Ward 4, Units 001 and 003 and Ward 4 Unit 8 in Ekwusigo were also allegedly arrested.

A video recording emerged on social media yesterday purporting to show two booklets of ballot papers already thumb-printed in favour of ADC.

The booklets were allegedly intended to be smuggled into ballot boxes at Aguata High School, Ekwolobi.

Uba Sani makes it happen for APC in Chikun, Zaria

The APC candidate in the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, Joseph Bagudu, and that of Zaria/Kewaye State Constituency, Mohammed Haruna, also appeared to be cruising to victory at the close of voting.

Reports from the various polling centres showed that their votes overshadowed those of Adanu Alexander of ADC and Dawaki Esther of PDP for Chikun/Kajuru as well as Isiyaku Kabir of ADC and Mamuda Abdullahi of PDP for Zaria/Kewaye.

Mallam El Rufai had rolled out his political machinery ahead of the by-election, crisscrossing the various wards to canvass support for the ADC candidates.

But all that seemed to have counted for nothing as shown by the results from the fields.

The Chikun/Kajuru seat was left vacant by the death of LP’s Abubakar Adamu.

The Police Command in Kaduna State said its operatives in collaboration with those of the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies arrested a suspected vote buyer ahead of the by-elections and recovered N30 million cash.

The command’s spokesperson, DSP Mansir Hassan, said the suspect was arrested at a popular Hotel located on Turunku Road in the Kaduna metropolis.

According to Hassan, the seized cash was earmarked for the purpose of inducing voters to compromise the electoral process.

According to him, preliminary investigations revealed that the suspect had planned to use the said amount to bribe eligible voters.

Hassan added: “On interrogation, the suspect confessed to the crime and pleaded for leniency.”

The Kaduna State chapter of the PDP confirmed ownership of the money but denied it was meant to compromise INEC officials or induce voters.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna, the State Chairman of the party, Sir Edward Percy Masha, described the allegation of vote buying as “false, malicious and politically motivated.,” maintaining that the seized funds were intended to facilitate the work of PDP agents and officials during the by-elections across the state.

According to him, every political party mobilises agents, supervisors and collation officers during elections and such structures require funding.

He noted that with over 5,000 PDP agents deployed across the constituencies, the seized N30 million amounted to little more than stipends for their welfare.

Masha said: “Let me make it clear: that money was for election logistics. We have 169 wards, and if you multiply the number of agents, supervisors and collation officers by their allowances, you will arrive at well over N30 million.

“That is the reality. To now turn around and say it was for vote buying is mischievous and an insult to the intelligence of Nigerians.”

Masha lamented that the party has been the target of harassment by security agencies working, in his words, “at the behest of the Kaduna State Government.”

He accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of weaponising state institutions to intimidate the opposition.

He recalled that only a day earlier, security operatives raided the campaign council office of the PDP candidate for Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency, Princess Esther Ashivelli Dawaki, and whisked away several party officials, including the state publicity secretary, zonal chairman, youth leader, women leaders, and more than 18 others.

Makinde proves too strong for APC in Ibadan North

There seems to be nothing to stop the PDP candidate in the Ibadan North Federal Constituency by-election, Folajinmi Oyekunle, after securing massive votes across the constituency.

APC candidate, Olatunji Adewale was no match, winning only six votes at his Ward 10, Unit 27 polling unit as against the nine for Oyekunle.

288 armed thugs arrested in Shanono/Bagwai; APC, PDP call for cancellation of election

The police in Kano State arrested 288 suspected thugs said to have engaged in disruptive activities during the by-election in Ghari/Tsanyawa and Bagwai/Shanono state constituencies.

Police spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, said various weapons were recovered from the suspects, including a pump action rifle and four locally made guns.

Other dangerous weapons recovered included bows and arrows, catapults and pebbles, cutlasses, knives and clubs.

“The suspects are currently in police custody. Investigations are ongoing to identify their sponsors and collaborators.”

The APC and PDP called for immediate cancelation of the by-election for Shanono/Bagwai constituency, and the Ghari constituency rerun election, citing alleged widespread extreme violence and election disruption by armed thugs across several polling units

APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka said in a statement that “verifiable reports from Shanono and Bagwai Local Government Areas and Ghari constituency have voters fleeing polling areas, with deployed security personnel overwhelmed by the violence, making the prospects of a credible election impossible.

“Proceeding with the Shanono/Bagwai Kano State Constituency by-election and Ghari rerun election in the atmosphere of utter brigandage and outright violent voter intimidation will be against democratic dictates of free, fair and peaceful election, and set a dangerous precedent for undesirable and unacceptable electoral heist,” Morka said.

Kano State Chairman of the PDP, Yusuf Ado Kibiya, said his party was alarmed by reports of intimidation, thuggery and other actions that undermine the democratic process.

He said: “The use of violence or threat of violence to influence voters and candidates and the outcome of the election are unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

“Such conducts not only endangers lives but destroys public trust in our democratic institutions.

“Let it be known that a free and fair election is the foundation of representative democracy.

“We urge all authorities to act decisively to safeguard that principle and to ensure the will of the people is reflected without fear or favor.”

APC’s Yakubu wins in Kogi

The APC candidate in the Egume/ Dekina State Constituency election in Kog State, Musa Hassan Yakubu, was returned with a total of 55, 073 votes.

Godwin Meliga of PDP came a distant second with 1038 votes, according to the results declared by the returning officer, Prof. Emmanuel Onoja Eneche.

In the third place was Egene Joseph Ugbede of APM who got 445 votes while Amos Ahaiba of ADC scored 141 votes. Rilwan Mudi of SDP had five votes and Yakubu Ugbede of A party polled 16 votes. (The Nation)