The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has won the bye-elections held on Saturday in Katsina, Kogi and Bauchi states.

In Katsina, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Alhaji Ahmed Babba-Kaita of APC as the winner of the bye-election conducted in the Katsina North Senatorial District.

Prof Hudu Ayuba-Abdullahi the returning officer who announced the result at 4:42 a.m. in Daura on Sunday said Kaita, a member of the House of Representatives 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 Abdullahi said the total number of registered voters was 864,046. The number of accredited voters was 308,500.

According to him, the total votes cast was 294,050, out of which 287,155 votes were counted as valid and 10,891 rejected.

The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that six political parties contested for the seat, which became vacant after the death of Senator Bukar Mustapha.

Apart from the APC and PDP, the other parties that took part in the election were Democratic Alliance (DA), Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN) and MPN.

GPN scored 1056, DA 796, MPN 633 and MMN 343 votes.

Malam Habibu Suleiman the agent of the PDP who signed the results, as declared alleged some irregularities.

Katsina North Senatorial District is the home district of President Muhammadu Buhari, now away to London on a vacation.

The APC candidate defeated the PDP candidate in all the 12 local councils that make up the district.

In Kogi, APC’s Alhaji Haruna Isah has been declared winner of the Lokoja/Kogi House of Representatives bye-election.

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 Mega 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 bye-election was conducted 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.

In Bauchi, APC’s Hon. Lawal Yahya Gumau was in the lead with a very wide margin in the Bauchi South Senatorial bye-election as at the time of this publication.

It was not, however, all losses for PDP, as it won Mrs Abbey Ukpukpen won Saturday’s Obudu State Constituency By-Election into the Cross River House of Assembly.

Mrs Abbey Ukpukpen, widow of a member of the Assembly, Stephen Ukpukpen, who died in May. His seat was declared vacant following his death.

The State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Frankland Briyai, announced the result on Sunday in Obudu, Headquarters of Obudu Local Government.

According to Briyai, the PDP Candidate scored 12,712 votes to beat her closest rival, Mr Ishamali Bendel, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 4,345 votes.

Other results include: Awafang Angiating of Mega Party of Nigeria (MPN), who scored 132 votes and Agwupuye Umeka of African Democratic Party (ADP), who scored 114 votes to place third and fourth, respectively.

“Total valued votes 17,303; rejected votes 607; total votes cast 17,910; total number of registered voters 69,908,” he said.

The REC commended the Electorate for the peaceful conduct of the exercise and urged them to replicate the same disposition in the 2019 year’s general elections.

Therefore, Mrs Abbey Ukpukpen, a member of staff of the University of Calabar, will now replace her late husband in the assembly.

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