Politics
NigeriaElections2023: Obi floors Tinubu, Atiku at Presidential Villa
The Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Saturday, floored the presidential candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, and that of the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, at the Presidential Villa, Asokoro, Abuja..
Obi won the highest total number of votes cast for the presidential candidates at all the 12 polling units observed by our correspondent at the Presidential Villa, Asokoro, Abuja, on Saturday.
At polling unit 124 at the Presidential Villa, City Centre, FCT, with a total number of six registered voters, and a total of four votes cast, LP recorded two votes, the Peoples Democratic Party also recorded two votes, while the ruling All Progressives Congress recorded zero votes, with no invalid vote.
Also at polling unit 125 at the Presidential Villa, City Centre, FCT, with a total number of 27 registered voters, and a total of 14 votes casted, LP recorded 10 votes, PDP one vote, and APC one vote, while two votes were declared invalid.
At polling unit 130 at the Presidential Villa, City Centre, FCT, with a total number of 174 votes cast, LP recorded 113 votes, APC 26, PDP 25, NNPP one vote, A Party two votes, ZLP one vote, Boot Party one vote, while five votes were declared invalid.
Also, at polling unit 121, LP scored 58, APC 31, while PDP scored 32. At PU 131, LP scored 17, APC six, and PDP scored three.
Meanwhile, at the largest polling unit in the presidential villa, PU 021, LP scored 194, APC 94, PDP 70. And at polling unit 022, LP scored 174, APC 71, and PDP scored 78.
At polling unit 122, LP scored 105, APC 29, and PDP scored 16. At PU 123, LP scored 86, APC 44, and PDP 21.
At polling unit 128, LP scored 12, APC scored one, and PDP got zero votes. At PU 126, LP scored 42, APC scored 11, and the PDP scored 12. Meanwhile, at PU 06, LP scored eight, APC five, and the PDP scored two votes.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that early voters present at different polling units at Aso Villa on Saturday complained about the late arrival of ad-hoc staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Our correspondent observed that the INEC ad-hoc staff arrived at about 9:20 am, while hundreds of voters were already present.
A voter identified as Ayodele who spoke to our correspondent said he arrived at his polling unit at the Presidential Villa at about 6 am.
Ayodele said, āIāve been here since 6 am, and itās unfortunate that these guys just arrived minutes past 9 am. I hope theyād also vote start earlier.ā
āAs you can see the INEC staff are just arriving, and they came late. Weāve been waiting here for so long.ā Another voter, Precious told our correspondent.
An ad-hoc staff who didnāt mention his name to our correspondent said they arrived late because INEC officials didnāt give them election materials on time.
He said, āItās not our fault that we arrived late. INEC officials didnāt give us electoral materials on time. But we assure voters that the election process will be seamless.ā
Our correspondent also observed the presence of police officers, operatives of the Department of State Security Service, and some military officers.
Also, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, was earlier sighted at the Presidential Villa inspecting polling units along with his team.
In a short chat with journalists, Bawa applauded the ongoing exercise.
Bawa said, āWe have visited several polling units in Abuja and so far. We have not witnessed any incident of vote buying.ā