Buhari still leads, may emerge president

Going by results from 31 states and FCT so far released by INEC, Muhammadu Buhari of the APC is projected to emerge victorious at the end of collation of the total number of votes cast in Saturday’s presidential election.

The retired general has garnered 13,760,747 votes, winning clearly in 18 states, while his main opponent, and incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan has 10, 760, 747 votes, winning in 12 states and the FCT.

Buhari leads Jonathan with about  2, 894, 498 votes, with result from Sokoto, Taraba, Edo, Delta and Borno states yet to come.

It is almost clear that Buhari will emerge winner, given that the remaining states are mainly APC favoured states, except for Delta.

While Buhari may win a clear majority of votes, the challenge however, will be if he can meet the constitutional requirement by getting more than  one quarter of the votes in 2/3 states, to be declared President-elect.

From emerging trends it is clear he may attain this.

It may however not be total Eldorado for Buhari yet, as he still has huddles to contend with before inauguration day of May 29. The courts still await Buhari, as there are about 11 cases seeking to disqualify him from contesting the presidency based on issues surrounding his certificate and qualification for the post of president.

It would also be recalled that another case is pending in the court which sought to determine the constitutionality of the use of the smart card reader for the election.

Justice Ademola Adeniyi, of the Federal High Court in Abuja had rejected an application to stop INEC from using the Smart Card Reader Machines for the presidential election, but that if ‎the court eventually ascertains that the use of the card readers were illegal and unconstitutional, it will not ‎hesitate to annul the outcome of the elections.

Also, given what played out at the venue of the collation centre on Tuesday, when former minister of Niger Delta, GodsDay Orubebe disrupted proceedings, PDP may be preparing the grounds for a massive protest of the final results declared.

See table of results so far below…

 

 

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