Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has been re-elected
for a second term. The Returning Officer for the election, Professor Richard
Kimbir, announced the results this morning at the collation centre for the
governorship election in Jos, the state capital.
According to him, the governor who is the candidate of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) was returned elected after polling the highest
number of votes in the keenly contested poll.
Governor Lalong got a total of 595,582 votes ahead of his
closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Jerry
Useni, who polled 546,813 votes. He was declared the winner two weeks after the
governorship election held on March 9 in Plateau and 28 other states in the
country.
The states where election did not hold are Edo, Osun, Ekiti,
Ondo, Bayelsa, Kogi, and Anambra. While winners emerged in some states, the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the governorship
election in Plateau and five other states as inconclusive.
Professor Kimbir had explained that the declaration, was as
a result of the margin of a lead of 44,929 between the APC and the PDP
candidates, which was less than the 49,377 cancelled votes.
He added that this constrained him to return a winner but
rather declare the poll inconclusive. This led to the supplementary election
which held in nine local government areas of the state on Saturday, March 23. .
Governor Lalong defeated Mr Useni with a difference of
48,769 votes in the rerun poll. .
The local government where INEC conducted the supplementary
election below: Barkin Ladi LGA – APC: 041
PDP: 296 Jos North LGA – APC: 274
PDP: 1,036 Shendam LGA – APC: 337
PDP: 80 Bassa LGA – APC: 1,040
PDP: 367 Kanam LGA – APC: 944
PDP: 476 Pankshin LGA – APC: 446
PDP: 151 Bokkos LGA – APC: 1,342
PDP: 1,337 Mangu LGA – APC: 6,931
PDP: 3,520 Langtang South LGA – APC: 972
PDP: 1,224
