Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has opened a wide lead in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential primaries as the party adjourned collation of results to 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Results announced from 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) showed Atiku polling over a million votes ahead of other contenders.
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A tally of the results announced from the 26 regions shows that Atiku has polled a total of 1,390,276 votes so far, far ahead of the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who has secured 248,455 votes and former banker Mohammed Hayatu-Ddeen, who has polled 156,075 votes.
Messrs Amaechi and Hayatu-Deen have, in separate statements, rejected the results even before the collation began on Tuesday. Both politicians alleged widespread irregularities in the primary elections held across the 36 states and the FCT on Monday.
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However, the ADC continued with the announcement of the election results in Abuja on Tuesday. Some INEC officials were present on Tuesday to monitor the collation of the results.
Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, the ADC suspended collation of the results and said it would resume by 8 p.m. on Wednesday. The results of 12 states are yet to be announced. They include Bauchi, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun and Rivers states.
Tally so far
The former vice president recorded massive margins in several northern states, including his home turf, Adamawa State, where he scored 177,141 votes against Mr Amaechi’s 1,896 and Mr Hayatu-Ddeen’s 18,949. He also dominated in Kano with 155,595 votes, Gombe with 136,933 votes, Borno with 86,084 votes and Niger with 79,206 votes.
In Kebbi, Atiku secured 65,523 votes ahead of Amaechi’s 5,931, while in Sokoto, he polled 63,823 votes against Mr Amaechi’s 292. The former vice president also posted strong victories in Zamfara, Yobe, Taraba, Kogi and Benue.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: Amaechi rejects ADC presidential primary result
Mr Amaechi, however, recorded notable wins in Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi. In Akwa Ibom, he polled 20,343 votes against Atiku’s 17,623, while in Ebonyi, he secured 6,400 votes compared to Atiku’s 1,210.
Mr Hayatu-Deen’s strongest performances came in Borno, where he garnered 23,011 votes, and Benue, where he scored 22,141 votes, though he remained behind the two leading contenders in most states declared.
The results also showed Atiku leading in the FCT with 18,704 votes ahead of Mr Amaechi’s 14,721 and Mr Hayatu-Deen’s 5,576.
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