LAGOS (Reuters) – The governor of Lagos easily won re-election in a low-turnout local poll, data showed on Sunday, a victory for Nigeria’s ruling party just weeks after the commercial capital backed the opposition in a disputed presidential election. Hui.
With the number of votes cast in districts representing 95% of the electorate, according to the Independent National, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the ruling All Progressives Congress had more than 736,000 votes, while his nearest rival, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivor of the Labor Party, There were only 292,000 votes cast. election Commission.
Africa’s largest megacity, which has a population of more than 20 million, was a small fraction of the 7 million registered voters.
The Lagos election was the highest profile in the race for powerful governorships in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states, as well as for state legislatures across the country.
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The race in Lagos was expected to be close after opposition Labor candidate Peter Obi polled the most votes in the state during last month’s disputed presidential election, which was won overall by the APC’s Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu himself is a former Lagos governor who ran the state from 1999-2007 and has since been seen as instrumental in choosing his successors, including Sanwo-Olu.
Obi has said his victory was snatched by massive fraud, and political analysts said his handling of last month’s presidential election could have discouraged some voters from participating in Saturday’s regional elections.
Some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who presented the results in Lagos on Sunday, reported that some ballot boxes had been snatched by thugs, but said it was not widespread enough to affect the outcome of the vote.
Voting was postponed on Sunday at 10 polling stations in a neighborhood of Lagos following a disagreement between INEC officials and voters over the location of voting units. Final results were expected after 1600 GMT.
Governors wield enormous influence in Africa’s most populous country and their support can help decide who becomes president.
Some governors preside over states whose annual budgets are larger than those of some small African countries. Lagos has an annual budget of $4 billion.
In northeastern Adamawa, a conservative and largely Muslim state, election officials were comparing results after a race that could produce Nigeria’s first elected female governor.
Voters were still casting ballots in the two oil-producing Rivers districts where INEC failed to deliver voting materials.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dizirutwe; Editing by Peter Graff)
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