By David Akinadewo
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Collation of results for Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections has commenced just as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu officially declared the national collation centre opened in Abuja, yesterday.

INEC had rescheduled the election from February 16, 2019 to February 23, citing logistic reason.

In Ondo State, collations of results were ongoing in the three Senatorial districts and the nine Federal Constituencies for the Senatorial and House of Representatives elections respectively.

Collation of the Presidential election results at the state level is being done at the INEC headquarters in Akure, the Ondo State capital, after which it would be transmitted to the national collation centre, Abuja.

Also, collations of results are ongoing at the Mapo Hall in Owo, for the Northern Senatorial Districts, St. Peter’s Unity Secondary School, Akure for the Central and Stella Maris College, Okitipupa for the Southern Senatorial District.

Declaring open the National Collation Centre, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said all results collated by each state collation officer must be accompanied by the Resident Electoral Commissioner to Abuja.

He revealed that adequate security arrangements had been put in place to ensure that the results are heavily guarded to the collation centre.

Prof. Yakubu, who however adjourned collation to 11am today for update from the 36 states of the federation and FCT, disclosed that Ekiti State had concluded its Presidential collation yesterday.

Meanwhile, scores of All Progressives Congress’ (APC) members and supporters in some parts of Ekiti State  trooped out in large number on Sunday to celebrate the outcome of Saturday’s election.

The News Agency of Nigeria’s (NAN) correspondent who monitored the situation reported that wild jubilations were witnessed in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, Iyin Ekiti and Igede Ekiti among others.

A former House of Representatives and one-time Lagos State Commissioner for Information, and APC senatorial candidate in Ekiti Central, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele, won the senatorial seat in the state.

  His election was declared by the INEC Presiding Officer for the Senatorial District, Prof. Jeremiah Omotola.

The party also won additional House of Representatives seat by Sola Fatoba, who contested in Ekiti Central Federal Constituency (1).

 This brings the number of House of Representatives seats so far won by the APC to three, out of the six available seats in the state.

 Fatoba won with 55, 483 to defeat his close rival, Mr Ayodele Oladimeji, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 27,836 votes.

NAN reports that Bamidele, who was in the lower chambers of the National Assembly between 2011 and 2015, as a member of the House of Representatives, and later as governorship candidate of Labour Party, scored a total of 94,279 to trounce the PDP, candidate, Mr Obafemi Adewale.

Adewale polled a total of 48,707 votes.

 Immediately the news filtered into town, Bamidele in company of party supporters stormed Iyin Ekiti, his hometown to celebrate with the electorate.