Buhari Set To Win Presidential Polls, But Jonathan’s Camp Claims Lead

Source: SaharaReporters

Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is cruising comfortably to victory in last Saturday’s presidential elections, according to official results released so far by collation centers of the Independent National Electoral Commission across Nigeria.

 Of more than 50 percent of the polling units reported, Mr. Buhari has received more than 64 percent of the votes and had won outright in at least twenty states. In addition, he has secured more than 25 percent of the votes in an additional five states.

Despite Mr. Buhari’s impressive showing, Femi Fani-Kayode, the spokesman of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection campaign,has just issued a statement today claiming that Mr. Jonathan was leading by up three million votes. Yesterday, Mr. Fani-Kayode had also claimed that President Jonathan had carried 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states, a claim that INEC chairman Attahiru Jega dismissed at a press conference as spurious.

“We wish to take this opportunity to make it clear to the Nigerian public that according to the figures made available to us, we are ahead in the presidential elections by at least two to three million votes.”

Mr. Fani-Kayode added: “We have our own Situation Room and we have collated all our figures from the various polling booths, wards, local government areas and states in the Federation.

“Despite the propaganda of the opposition, we are confident of victory. They and all other stakeholders can be rest assured that we will accept nothing less than the announcement of an election result that is truthful and that reflects the true will of the Nigerian people.”

Based on collated figures released by various INEC offices across Nigeria, Mr. Fani-Kayode’s statement is seen as reflecting a desperate effort to deny what observers view as the inevitable declaration of Mr. Buhari as winner of the presidential polls.

Going by the electoral law, the winner of the presidential polls is required to win the most popular votes in the country and at least 25 percent of the votes in at least 24 states.

Some of the key states already won by Mr. Buhari are Kano, Lagos, Borno, Sokoto, Adamawa and his home state of Katsina. The APC’s presidential candidate had also secured at least 25 percent of the votes in numerous states, including Imo State, in the southeast, and Plateau State.

A source at the European Union in Abuja told SaharaReporters that numerous member countries had appealed to President Jonathan to concede the election should it emerge that he lost it. International observers have expressed concerns about high percentage of votes allotted to President Jonathan in states like Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and some Southeast states where Mr. Jonathan scored votes in excess of 95% across board.

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