By Ann Godwin and Obinna Nwaoku (Port Harcourt) and Tina Agosi Todo (Calabar)
Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is leading in Rivers State with nine councils, while Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party, has won two councils out of the 11 council results declared so far.
In Bonny Council, Obi polled 10, 488, Tinubu got 2,708, while the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, polled 2,406 of the 16,365 votes cast.
Also in Ahoada-West Council, Obi polled 4,634; Tinubu got 3,443, while PDP polled 2,582 from the 11,062 valid votes.
The Returning Officer for Ahoda West, Prof. Cheta William, noted that Ahoada West has 12 wards, adding that 84,710 voters registered in the area with 11, 505 accredited voters and a total of 11,062 valid votes. He said the rejected votes were 443.
Councils, where Tinubu won include Emohua, Eleme, Opobo-Nkoro, Abua-Odual, Gokana, Oyigbo, Omuma,Tai and Asari-Toru.
Residents have, however, vowed to resist manipulated results of the presidential elections. Some voters claimed results announced by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials at various polling units had put Obi in clear lead, with APC and PDP candidates trailing.
ALSO in Cross River, Tinubu is leading Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar in four councils out of the six announced by INEC.
Tinubu won in Etung Council with 2, 717 votes, Obi scored 2,345, while Atiku got 2,149 votes. In Abi, Tinubu scored 8,011 votes, while PDP scored 5,943 votes. Followed by Labour Party (LP) with 3,557 votes.
APC also won in Akpabuyo and Odukpani councils, with 5,977 and 8,597 votes to beat LP that scored 4,314 in Akpabuyo and PDP, 3,950.
LP was leading in Calabar South with long margin of 24,247 votes against APC 9,060 and PDP following with 4,244 votes; and in Yakurr with 10,198 votes and APC closely followed with 9, 646 and PDP with 6,600 votes.
Earlier, in their remarks, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Gabriel Yomere, and the state Collation Officer of Presidential Election (SCOPE) Prof. Akpofure Rim-Rukeh, apologised for the delay in collating results that are expected from the 18 local government areas of the state.
They identified difficult terrain in the state as one of the main reasons results slow.
Source: The Guardian
