Nigeria 2011 presidential polls - Early results from yesterday's presidential poll show that President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) are leading in the South and the North-West respectively. For the presidential flag-bearer of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, woeful returns he registered in both the South-West and Adamawa, his home state, are feeding a growing conspiracy theory that he was used and dumped. President Jonathan has predicted a brighter future for Nigeria, saying it would never degenerate to Cote d'Ivoire's situation. Speaking shortly after casting his vote at 12.35 p.m. in his hometown, he pledged that if he lost in the election, he would vacate office.

Jonathan declared: "If I lose, of course I will leave. That is the essence of using myself as an experiment.

"As to whether the election will go into a re-run, I pray that we don't go into a bye-election, because of the cost implication.

"Nigeria is a very big country, if you calculate the colossal sum of money for the ad-hoc staff, then, for economic reason and to even reduce tension. We pray that whoever wins should win at the first ballot."

He reiterated his promise not to influence the presidential election even though he was contesting as a sitting president.

"I am contesting the election as a sitting president and will not influence the process. That has been demonstrated in the conduct of the previous election. You can go and find out from the INEC," he added.

There was a huge turnout of voters in almost all the eight local government areas of Bayelsa State, while there was no report of any violence. Jonathan's wife, Patience, and his mother also cast their votes.

Vice President Namadi Sambo lost his constituency for the second time in the elections.

The PDP scored 208, while Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) got 435, Action Congress of Nigeria got 5, Fresh Party 2 and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) had one vote in his polling unit.

Ribadu has said he will accept the outcome of the election in the spirit of sportsmanship. He spoke on Saturday shortly after he cast his vote in Yola, Adamawa State.

Ribadu lost the presidential election at his polling unit in Yola town to the CPC.

Results of the polling unit pasted by Ms Ukamaka Ozoeloanyi, polling officer at Bako polling unit, showed that out of the 441 total votes cast, ACN scored 85 votes while the CPC scored 260 votes. The PDP got 64 votes while BMPP and ADC got three votes each. NCP got two votes while the ANPP and PMP got one vote each. Eighteen votes were voided.

In Benue State, PDP also maintained its lead. For example in the polling unit where Governor Gabriel Suswam voted, PDP scored 299, CPC 80, ACN 17, and PDC 2. In Otia Open Space polling unit PDP 567, ANPP 3, CPC 7, ACN 1.

The result released so far in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, showed that while CPC won in some polling units, PDP won massively in some areas. For example in Obene ward in Keana, CPC scored 698, while PDP has 1,172. Also in Obi LGA's Agwatashi Ward, CPC scored 1,512, while PDP scored 7,312.

However, in Adogi Ward, CPC scored 4,117, PDP has 2,503.

As the counting of parliamentary polls begins, indications emerged last night that the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, was defeated at his Giginyu ward of Nassarawa local government. This is even as most voters that voted at polling units located at the state government house voted in favour of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Though the final result for Giginyu ward had not been compiled as at the time of this report, our correspondent learnt that the result from the polling unit of the governor indicated that ANPP lost in favour of the CPC.

The result for the polling unit numbered 022 for the Senate is as follows: ACN, 9; PDP, 51; ANPP, 92 while CPC polled 97. For the House of Representatives, ANPP polled 88 trailing behind CPC with 91 votes. PDP scored 47 votes while ACN got 6 votes.

Among the seven polling units located at the Kano Government House, CPC is taking the lead with ANPP and PDP trailing behind. In polling unit 014 CPC got 134 while ANPP polled 93. In unit 015, ANPP polled 98 while CPC scored 152 votes.

In polling unit 016, ANPP won 66 votes while CPC got 58. Again, CPC swept polling units 017 and 018 with 84 and 80 votes respectively against ANPP's 65 and 62 in each of the respective polling units.

Maiduguri again witnessed another sad election as two bomb explosions rocked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) office yesterday.

The MMC INEC office located along Biu Road, housed the central store of the INEC and is also the collation centre of the Borno central senatorial district.

Witnesses said the bomb was detonated around 8pm when election materials were being loaded into vehicles en route to various local government areas for the presidential election.

"My house is very close to the INEC office, the place had been busy throughout the day. We heard a loud bang around 8pm but for fear of the unknown, we refused to go close to the scene," Sulaiman, who spoke on phone, said.

As at the time of filing this report, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Borno State police commissioner Mike Zuokumor who spoke on phone confirmed the attack. He however said there were no casualties.

"Luckily enough, the explosion affected only the outside building...the offices and the stores are intact. I want to assure the people that the blast will not in any way affect the polls," the commissioner said.

He said the INEC office had been cordoned off and security had been intensified.

Although no /casualties were recorded in the two separate bomb blasts, two gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect stormed a residence at Gwange III and killed two people while two soldiers and five civilians received injuries.

Those injured were two teenagers, Sama'ila Usman (16) and Mohammed Musa (15) who were said to be the first to blow the whistle when they saw the gunmen alighting from a motorcycle with concealed Ak 47 riffles in their clothes.

One of the victims, Salisu Dauda, told our correspondent that, "the children were scavenging on a heap of refuse around 8.30am yesterday when we saw the gunmen approaching. The gunmen who are equally in their early 20s followed the ground level of the Lagos Bridge route probably to evade various security posts mounted by the Joint Task Force (JTF) of the military and the police".

Meanwhile, former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday described the presidential election as a victory for Nigeria and Nigerians in spite of the voter apathy which characterised it.

Obasanjo, who spoke with journalists after casting his vote in Abeokuta, congratulated Nigerians on the successful conduct of the election.

He said that the election would further consolidate the country's democracy and move it toward the path of growth and development.

"I believe that, to all of us in Nigeria and Nigerians, today is a day of victory because we are having an election and going about it in a peaceful way.

"It is victory for all Nigerians and also for the party whose candidate wins, it is double victory for such a party," he said.

Meanwhile, in line with its promise, INEC has said that it would start announcing the results today.

Meanwhile, another bomb explosion killed one person at Happy Night Hotel i Kabala West, Kaduna, around 7:50pm yesterday.

Confirming the incident, the director of the State Security Service in Kaduna, Mr. Abayomi Zamba, said the suspected bomber had been apprehended.

He added that the suspect was now receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.

Samuel Aruwan, Dauda Mbaya and Abdulaziz Abdulaziz

Leadership/17/04/2011