The All Progressive Congress wins Lokoja /Kogi by-election

The Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Haruna Isah, has been declared winner of the Lokoja/Kogi House of Representatives by-election held on Aug.11.

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.

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.