The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday said Ekiti State had concluded collation of results of Saturday’s elections, declaring it as first in the country to do so.
Chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, announced this at a news conference at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, the National Collation Centre for the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
He said that the Collation Officer of the elections in Ekiti was already on his to Abuja with the results.
Yakubu, however, said that collation of results of the elections was ongoing nationwide, adding that almost all the states had concluded preliminary collation and were currently collating results at the local government level.
“Some have commenced state level collation and we expect the state collation officers for the presidential elections to start arriving at the National Collation Centre later today (Sunday) and early morning tomorrow (Monday).
“Accordingly, the National Collation Centre will be officially declared open today (Sunday) at 6 p.m. and collation will commence as soon as the results arrive from the states.
“On this note, I wish to state that Ekiti State has already concluded the process. The State Collation Officer for the Presidential election, as we speak, is on his way to Abuja with the result of the presidential election.
“Just before I came for this conference, I was also informed by our Ekiti office that they have concluded the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections and have since made declarations of winners.
“So, Ekiti is the first state to make declaration and they are on their way to Abuja with the result of the presidential election,’’ he said.
The chairman urged all stakeholders, especially social media users, to strictly adhere to the provisions of the law in respect to announcement of results and declaration of winners of the elections.
“Already some polling units’ results are in the public domain. Let me once again reiterate the position of the law that only INEC can tally figures, announce results and declare winners in our general elections.
“I urge all stakeholders to strictly adhere to the provisions of the law and be circumspect in this respect.
“We are doing everything possible to ensure the speedy collation of results and the declaration of winners for the elections conducted yesterday (Saturday),’’ he said. (NAN)