The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the official result of the Lokoja/Kogi House of Representatives by-election, declaring Alhaji Haruna Isah, candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), winner.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Rotimi Ajayi, who announced the results on Sunday in Lokoja, said Isah polled 26, 860 votes to defeat Alhaji Bashir Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 14, 845 votes.
Ajayi said that Ahmed Imam of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) scored 2, 916 votes, while the candidates of the Accord Party and Alternative Democratic Congress (ADC) scored 149 votes and 2,984 votes, respectively.
(watch the video of the dxeclaration by returning officer Professor Rotimi Ajayi, Federal University of Technology, Lokoja:
INEC Nigeria✔@inecnigeria
Declaration of results for the Lokoja/Kogi KK Federal Constituency, bye-election, Kogi State, by the Returning Officer, Prof. Rotimi Ajayi, Dept of Political Science, Fed. University Lokoja.
The Labour Party scored 90 votes; Democratic Alternative scored 159 votes; while Megga Party of Nigeria scored 50 votes, Ajayi stated.
He said that 19,960 votes from 17 polling units were cancelled due to violence and other malpractices, saying that 15 of the affected polling units were in Lokoja Local Government Area, while two were from Kogi Local Government Area.
Giving a further breakdown of the election results, the Returning Officer said that 51, 669 voters were accredited for the election while only 50,036 actually cast their votes.
According to him, valid votes are 48,165, while rejected votes are 1,871.
The by-election was conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fill the vacancy created by the death of the former occupant of the seat, Umar Buba Jibrin, on March 30.
Jibrin was also of the APC.
INEC had similarly declared APC candidate, Ahmed Babba Kaita, winner
of the Katsina senatorial election.
Kaita scored 224,607 votes, while his elder brother and a retired customs officer, Alhaji Kabir Babba-Kaita of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 59,724 votes.
Of the 855,092 registered voters, 308,500 were accredited at the 1825 voting points and 1577 polling units and 128 wards in the district, a huge turnout considering the apathy that had greeted past bye-elections in the country.
The Secretary to the Katsina State Government, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa has commended the people of Katsina North Senatorial District for coming out massively to vote in the bye-election on Saturday.
He said the victory of the All Progressives Congress was a sign of success in the 2019 election.
Inuwa said the voter turnout was encouraging especially considering the number of the accredited voters and the 294,050 people who cast their votes. He described the keenly contested election as peaceful.
Inuwa added that the result was a clear evidence that the All Progressives Congress(APC) was in full control of the state and added that the government appreciated the resilience and understanding exhibited by the electorate especially the party members.
The APC, Inuwa said, would emerge victorious in future elections, using the landslide victories recorded in Bauchi and Kogi states as proofs of the party’s popularity among Nigerians.
He said the APC led government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to salvaging the nation from the socio-economic and political predicament which the “moribund people’s Democratic Party (PDP)” left as legacy in its sixteen years of misrule.
NAN reports that the conduct of the bye election was sequel to the death in April this year of Senator Mustafa Bukar who represented the district.
(NAN)
