An All Progressives Congress supporter on Twitter, Kayode Ogundamisi, disagreed with Special Adviser on Media to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Salihu Yakasai on Monday, over claims by Gadnuje’s aide that the South-West had failed to “perform.”
Yakasai lamented the “lower-than-expected” votes President Muhammadu Buhari had gathered so far in the South-West.
The South-West, which has the second highest number of voters and has six All Progressives Congress governors in all its six states, was expected to give bloc votes to Buhari.
However, figures released by the Independent National Electoral Commission show otherwise.
Tweeting through his handle @dawisu, he wrote, “I am terribly disappointed and saddened by the South-West results for the APC despite being biggest beneficiary of this government both in terms of juicy appointments and projects (they even got a whole new rail line from Lagos to Ibadan) yet APC narrowly won, shame.”
Ganduje’s aide warned the South-West that the North may not give bloc votes in 2023 due to this development.
Reacting to the defeat of Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State, who failed to win the Oyo-South senatorial election, Yakasai urged the Yoruba to stop overreacting over his post and admit the truth.
Ajimobi and Ganduje’s children are married.
Yakasai added, “Instead of insulting me up and down, the South-West APC needs to do some soul searching inwards ahead of 2023. There will be no bloc vote from the North for any party because Buhari will not be on the ballot paper. The earlier this conversation starts, the better for us all. #Peace
In his response, however, Ogundamisi said there was nothing to be ashamed of.
He said, “Shame? Nothing to be ashamed of. Nigerians voted Buhari in the South-West. More voted for him in South-South and South-East than ever before. As we admire the uniformity in the massive votes he got in the North, we here respect the choice of those who did not vote our candidate.”
The two largest South-West states in terms of voter population are Lagos and Oyo.
While Atiku has won more local governments than Buhari in Oyo, he is still trailing the President by over 7,000 votes out from the results of 31 local governments declared so far
The Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, defeated Buhari of the All Progressives in Ondo State. Atiku scored 275,901 votes, Buhari polled 241,769 votes, defeating Buhari by a difference of over 34, 000
However, Buhari won in Ekiti State with 219,231 votes while Atiku, who came second in the state, scored 154,032. The difference in votes is over 65, 000.
In Osun State, Buhari polled 347,674 votes while Atiku got 337,377 votes, with the APC candidate leading with a margin of 10,297.
Buhari is also leading in Ogun and Lagos states.