The All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello on his inauguration for a Second Term in office on Monday.
A statement by the spokesman of the ruling APC, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu also congratulates Mr. Edward Onoja, as he takes oath as the Deputy Governor of the state.
Meanwhile, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidates as the winners of the re-run elections for Sokoto North/Sokoto South and Isa/Sabon-Birni Federal Constituencies of Sokoto State.
In Akwa Ibom State, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio was roundly trounced, though prior to the election, he had opted out of the APC ticket. INEC insisted on his name on the ballot, even if he insisted he preferred his new ministerial duties. Akpabio had been mocked by Akwa Ibom stakeholders that he chickened out for fear of a second defeat in the bye-elections.
He lost to a former State Deputy Governor, Chris Ekpeyong, in an election that was partly marred by violence.
In Kano, the enfant terrible of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who despite his fanatical support to have Speaker Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila installed, did not get rewarded with a ‘lucrative’ chairmanship position, lost out at the re-run polls. The PDP candidate shoved him aside. But he says he would not contest his defeat in court, though he was robbed of victory with the connivance of the umpire and other stakeholders.
Said he on Sunday in a statement, “The Kiru/Bebeji re-run election was held on Saturday 25th January, 2020 as scheduled. My constituents came out en masse to exercise their civic responsibility.
“But they were denied their franchise to vote the candidate and party of their choice through the application of maximum force in all the wards of our constituency, except my home town of Kofa, Bebeji that proved impenetrable.
“We know we won the election fairly and squarely, but our mandate was stolen….
“The violence, thuggery and rigging that took place have been carefully documented, at least for posterity. I have strong reservations about the outcome of the elections.
“However, INEC has announced my opponent as the winner of the election….
“I am sure those of them saddled with the responsibility of ensuring a free and fair election, but aided and abated this grave injustice against our people will be eternally trailed by the guilt of their conscience and await the ultimate judgement of God.
“I have therefore accepted the outcome of the elections and wish to congratulate my opponent Aliyu Datti Ahmed who will continue from where I started about a decade ago and has now come to an end.
“I look forward to working closely with him and giving him whatever cooperation and assistance to settle down in his new role of representing our people.
“I do not intend to file petition against his declaration as winner. It is time to move on”, he said.
“I also thank my constituents who are still recovering from the trauma of what can best be described as a violent war against them, for giving me the opportunity to represent them on three occasions and the love and support they have showed me over the years.
“I will continue to support the progress and development of my party, the APC, in my personal capacity as I have always done before I became an elected Representative nine years ago”.
Also in Kano, APC candidate for the Tudun Wada/Doguwa Federal Constituency rerun election, and former Majority leader of the House of representatives, Alhaji Alhassan Ado-Doguwa was declared winner of the election.
Doguwa scored 66, 667 votes, beating the PDP candidate, Salisu Yushau who had 6,323 votes.
In Kaduna, former Deputy Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Nuhu Go to, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of Kagarko Constituency seat for Kaduna State House of Assembly..
He polled 24, 658 votes to defeat Mr Morondia Tanko of the PDP who scored 20,206 votes.
In Okigwe North Federal Constituency rerun in Imo, the APC’s Ms Miriam Onuoha has defeated her closet opponent Mr Obinna Onwubualiri in Saturday’s rerun election.
She scored 23, 690 votes, to defeat Onwubualiri of PDP who scored 10, 010 votes. 28 parties contested the election.
In Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi of PDP defeated the incumbent lawmaker, Alhaji Bala Hassan of All Progressives Congress (APC) with 68,985 votes against 42,433 lawful votes cast to clinched Sokoto North/Sokoto South House of Representatives seat.
PDP’s Sa’idu Bargaja also defeated his closest opponent of the APC, Alhaji Sani Aminu-Isa with 44,490 against 41,048 for Isa/Sabon-Birni federal constituency.
INEC spokesman in Sokoto, Mr Musa Abubakar said that the results were declared at the election collation centres, respectively.
Musa noted that no fewer than 38 candidates and 21 candidates participated in the elections for the two affected constituencies.
The re-run elections were conducted on Saturday for Binji and Sokoto North state House of Assembly seats as well as Sokoto North/Sokoto South and Isa/Sabon Birni federal constituencies.
According to the results, Alhaji Sarki Arzika of PDP polled 18,516 votes to defeat APC’s Hassan Faru who netted 16,847 votes to representSokoto North II in the state House of Assembly.
Similarly, APC’s Bature Muhammad lost to PDP’s Sahabi Umar with 10,591 votes to 12,880 votes to represent Binji state constituency.
On the Kogi election, APC added, “In the last governorship election, the people of Kogi State demonstrated unequivocally their implicit trust and confidence in the governor, thereby renewing the mandate of the APC-led government.
“We assure Kogites that the governor would not take this sacred trust for granted and would continue to clean the rot bequeathed by past PDP administrations and galvanise the resources of the state towards uplifting the confluence state and taking It to the next level.
“Our great party is confident that the Governor Bello-led administration will justify the overwhelming reelection mandate bestowed on the administration by the good people of Kogi State, by redoubling its efforts in harnessing the state’s massive potentials and bringing people-focused development to the state.”
Additional reports by NAN