Kwara: APC Wins 11 Council Wards, KWASIEC Returning Officer Absconds

Posted: September 1, 2013

APC

By SaharaReporters, New York

Results from all 12 council wards in Offa, Kwara State, show that the newly registered All Progressive Congress (APC), swept 11 of the 12 wards in Saturday’s polls, and the Peoples Democratic Party, just one ward.
The results were signed by officers of the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) in the wards, agents of all the parties, and security agents.
Tension however rose in the area after the Returning Officer strangely refused to announce the results even when they had been fully tabulated as early as 5 p.m and no record of violence existed.
Political party agents, security teams and election observers who gathered at the local government collation centre in Offa could not find the Returning Officer who is by law empowered to announce the final results. He later called in to say he would only announce the result in Ilorin, the state capital, a decision that is contrary either to convention and the electoral law.
The signed results are as follows:
Balogun Ward: APC - 1129, PDP -504;
Shawo Central: APC -1132, PDP- 435;
Shawo SW : APC- 1171, PDP – 372;
Shawo SE: APC- 1054, PDP -370;
Essa A : APC – 639, PDP -363;
Essa B: APC -644, PDP -381;
Ojomu NW : APC -1314, PDP -446;
Ojomu Central 1: APC -866, PDP -373;
Ojomu Central 2 : APC – 866, PDP- 373;
Ojomu SE : APC -1374, PDP -427;
Ogbodun : APC – 268, PDP – 381;  and
Essa C : APC - 972 , PDP – 351.
The tally shows the APC having 11,526 as against PDP’s 4,668.
The atmosphere was still tense in Offa and at KWASIEC office in Ilorin at the time of filing this report, as the youths vowed to reject any attempt to manipulate the result in favour of the PDP.