Candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Marcus Gundiri,

and former governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  showed strength in the governorship election held in the state Saturday.

Gundiri was leading in Hong Local Government Area, according to results so far announced in polling units after the conclusion of voting.

The result of the election so far announced in Yola North and Yola South local government areas indicated that while Nyako was taking the lead, the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), General Buba Marwa, was closely trailing him.

In the early results that were trickling in based on polling units, the ACN and PDP were performing neck-to-neck, whilethe CPC was trailing them.

In Kamburu/Sukur, Bekaji, Tarofi Shaba Lamurde Kpashimina, Bali, Naman John Holt and Ngbanalang polling units, it was either the ACN or the PDP was leading.

A chieftain of the PDP, Chief Bode George, was part of the solidarity team from Abuja that gave former Governor Nyako some form of support before and after the election, just as leader of the CPC, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, was also sited in Yola showing support for the candidate of his party.

Traditional rulers and district heads in Adamawa State played prominent roles during the election, amid reports that they assisted in mobilising support for the ruling PDP in fulfilment of the directive by President Goodluck Jonathan that the PDP should be returned in the state.

Amid water-tight security, the governorship election was peaceful and orderly, just as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lived up to expectations.

The commission expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election “so far.”

INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, had, before the election, promised that it would be hitch-free.

Jega’s spokesman, Kayode Idowu, said the commission was satisfied with the conduct of the election so far.

He had told journalists in a telephone interview that, “it is going on fine. Everything has gone on smoothly so far, even as we can see from the live coverage by television stations.

“Accreditation started on time. Voting also started on time. There has not been a hitch in the election. It is going on smoothly.”

There was a massive turnout of voters for the election. Some voters said that this was more so in the major towns of the state, especially the state capital, Yola.

It was learnt that shortly after midday, voting had commenced in most parts of the state and that majority of the early callers at the polling booths were civil servants who had not been paid for some months.

Sunday Tribune also learnt that the candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Nyako, would not leave anything to chance in his bid to reclaim the governorship seat, which was taken away from him by a ruling of the Supreme Court two weeks ago.

Nyako, it was learnt, still met with stakeholders in the state’s politics till the wee hours of Saturday.

It was learnt that the governor of Taraba State, Danbaba Suntai, who was also elected on the ticket of the PDP, was in Adamawa State to help Nyako.

It was also learnt that Suntai’s deputy, Abubakar Sani Danladi, was also in Adamawa State before the election in the bid to assist Nyako.

Abubakar was said to be pulling the strings for Nyako in Mubi Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

Electoral process had commenced as early as 8.00 a.m. in most parts of the state, with early arrival of voting materials to most polling units,  a development that aided the accreditation of voters in almost all the 21 local government areas of the state.

Sunday Tribune observed that the early arrival of voting materials to designated voting centres was made possible by the resolve of INEC to distribute the materials to major centres across the 21 local government areas in the evening of Friday, while Youth corps  members who conducted the voting arrangements in nearly all the polling units provided prompt   services.

Security arrangement was the same throughout the polling units in the state, while heavily armed policemen and officials of the State Security Service (SSS) were drafted to the polling units.

Meanwhile, cases of mass disenfranchisement of voters were recorded in Numa and  Demsa local government areas, due to irregularities in the compilation of voters registe. The development prevented many from voting.

In most polling units in Demsa Local Government Area, voters protested to the officials of INEC that they could not find their names in the voters register, while in most cases, voters names were jumbled, just as the names of some voters could not be found in the register.

There were attempts by some hoodlums to cause confusion in Michica Local Government Area, but the situation was quickly nipped in the bud by security personel.

Voting did not take place till late afternoon in Uba, a town in Hong Local Government Area, owing to irregularitiies in the voters register which affected two polling units.

According to statistics, not less than 1,200 local and international observers were in Adamawa State to monitor the election as most of the observer groups were co-ordinated by Project Swift Count and the Rights Monitoring Group (RMG) which deployed their men in all the local government areas in the state.

Apart from Nyako, Gundiri and Marwa, others seeking to occupy the Adamawa State Government House via the election are the candidates of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Zainab Kwonchi; and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Musa Kam.

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