The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced the release of presidential election results in Benue State, with the All Progressives Congress (APC), leading in the two local government councils of Tarka and Guma respectively.
Announcing the result at INEC headquarters, Makurdi, the Collation Officer for Tarka local government area, Professor David Gungur, said APC scored a total of 13,240 votes, while LP polled 2,038 votes, with the PDP polling 2,642 votes, while NNPP got 37 votes.
In Buruku Local Government area, the Collation Officer, Professor Grace Gberikyon, announced that the APC Presidential Candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, scored 20,248 votes, while the Labour Party got 13,466 votes.
According to the result, PDP got 6,909 votes, while the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, scored 240 votes.
The Benue State Collation Officer, Professor Faruk Adamu Kuta, while announcing the result, commended security operatives, the media and political parties for educating the electorate on the need to be peaceful before, during and after the voting exercise.
He observed that if the nation’s electoral process can be sustained in a peaceful atmosphere, Nigeria will soon catch up with advanced democracies like the United States.
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Benue State, Professor Sam Egwu, acknowledged challenges during the presidential polls in about 72 Polling Units in some locations across the state.
He announced that the Presidential and National Assembly elections were still being held in several Polling Units in the state, following technical and logistic problems encountered on February 25.
Professor Egwu said the state office of the Commission was only being used as a Collation Centre, as the final declaration of the Presidential results would be done in Abuja by the National Chairman of the Commission.
He explained that the State Collaboration Officer was not in the state to serve as adjudication Officer and urged those with grudges to wait until the constitution of an Election Petitions Tribunal to look into complaints.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, particularly commended security operatives in the state for their commitment to a peaceful democratic process.
At the time of filling this report, results from the remaining 21 local governments were still being expected.
