Rivers State governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has declared President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary election held in the state, announcing a landslide victory across the 23 local government areas.
Fubara, who also served as the state collation officer, said Tinubu polled 208,082 votes to defeat his sole challenger, Stanley Osifo, who he said recorded zero votes in the exercise.
Announcing the results at the APC secretariat in Port Harcourt, the governor described the process as peaceful and well-coordinated, attributing its smooth conduct to what he called “good planning.”
“Let me say congratulations to everyone. I feel that the process has been one of the most organised outings. The reason it came out peacefully is because it had to do with good planning,” Fubara said.
He added, “But, in all, I want to say I am really impressed with the process, having taken time to collate all the results from the 23 Local Government Areas.”
According to him, a total of 297,068 registered APC members were eligible to participate in the exercise.
“From my record, registered APC members who are eligible to vote are 297,068. After accreditation, we had a total of 280,082 votes cast between two contestants, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Stanley Osifo,” he said.
Fubara, however, gave slightly conflicting figures while declaring the final tally.
“From my calculation, the total votes cast, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu scored 280,082 while Mr. Stanley Osifo scored nil,” he said.
He continued, “Having taken time to go through the figures diligently, I Siminalayi Fubara, who is serving as state collation officer hereby certify that the information contained in my own records represent the true, correct and accurate record of the summary of the result from the 23 LGA.”
“We were asked to send this result to Abuja, but that notwithstanding, it is practical that from what we have here, the winner is His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the governor added.
The declaration underscores an overwhelming sweep for Tinubu in the Rivers APC primary exercise, despite inconsistencies in the reported vote totals read out during the collation process.
