Presidential election: PDP’s Melaye, Ihedioha, other party agents storm out of collation center in protest

After failed bid to stop results announcement Seek cancellation, new date for fresh poll

INEC chairman rules out over voting in Ekiti

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Agents of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP at the National Collation Centre, Abuja, for the Presidential election held Saturday, Senator Dino Melaye and former Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, along with other agents of some political parties walked out of the venue in protest yesterday.

Their action followed their failure to secure the nod of the Chief Electoral Officer of INEC, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu to oblige their request to cancel the presidential election result in Ekiti on grounds of alleged over voting among others.

They were also irked following their failure to convince the national collation officers to put the announcement of result on hold pending the direct upload on the INEC portal of the results compiled and collated at the polling stations.

The agents of the parties, led by Senator Dino Melaye and Hon. Emeka Ihedioha (both of the Peoples Democratic Party), stormed out of the collation centre at exactly 4:27pm over disagreements on the various results from States.

The agents of PDP, Labour Party, AA, NRM, and PRP were among those who stormed out of the venue over alleged irregularities.

Dino Melaye and Emeka Ihedioha, who spoke with journalists outside of the venue, proposed that a fresh presidential election should be conducted alongside the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly polls on Saturday, March 11.They said that they had lost confidence in the whole collation process of the presidential election.

Earlier, Senator Melaye at the venue of the collation, had protested against the release of the result at the Abuja centre, when same had not been uploaded by INEC via I-Rev portal.

He specifically called for the simultaneous upload of the results and the display of same on the screen for the purpose of comparison.

But the APC agent, Barrister

Babatunde Ogala suggested that instead of calling for the halting of the election or declaration of resilts, the aggrieved parties should file their petition before the tribunal.

Dino Melaye recalled that the INEC Chairman had assured Nigerians at 68 different times that the result would be uploaded on INEC portal before the final collation, while another INEC Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye equally assured Nigerians 118 times on the same.

He noted that while the promise to upload the result was not kept, the result was being announced.

The following is the outlook of results of the Presidential elections announced yesterday by the National Collation Centre: Ogun State: APC -341,554. PDP-123,831. LP-85,829.

Kwara State: APC -263, 572, PDP -136,909, LP-31,155, SDP22,738.

Osun State: APC -343,945, PDP 354,366, LP: 23,283. Ondo State: APC -369,924,PDP -115,460, LP -47,350.

Yobe State: APC -151,459,

PDP-198,567, LP-2,906. Lagos State: LP- 582,454, APC- 572,606, PDP - 75,750 Enugu State: LP-428,640. PDP-15,749. APC-4,772

Oyo State: APC-449,884. PDP-182,997. LP -99110

Gombe State: PDP - 319,123, APC- 146,977, LP- 26,160. Jigawa State: APC -421, 390, PDP -386,587, NNPP -98,234, LP -1,887.

Adamawa State: PDP417,611, APC -182,881, LP-105, 648, NNPP-8006. Katsina State: PDP 489045, APC-582, 283, NNPP -69386, LP -6376.

President Muhammadu Buhari with APC National Legal Adviser Barr Ahmad El-Marzuq, Senator-Elect Hon Nasir Zango Daura, and House of Rep Member Elect Hon. Aminu Jamo as he receives National Assembly Election Winners in his Constituency in Daura yesterday