PDP Wins Kogi East Senatorial Election

A former Chief of Air Staff and member of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), retired Air Vice-Marshal Isaac Alfa, has been declared winner of Kogi East Senatorial re-run election held on Saturday.

Announcing the result in Idah on Sunday, the Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Lucky Ovwhasa, said Alfa, the PDP candidate, scored 57, 575 votes to defeat five other candidates.

He said that the candidates of Mega People Political Party (MPPP), United Progressives Party (UPP), KOWA, ACPN and Labour Party scored 1,793, 888, 498, 349 and 11,908 votes, respectively, in the election.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) did not participate in the exercise due to an Appeal Court judgment which prohibited it from fielding a candidate.

The senatorial election, according to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), held in 236 out of the 1,080 policing units in the area,

The returning officer announced that only 140, 297 voters out of the 643,559 registered voters in the area participated in the election.

Mr Haruna Idoko of the APC had on Saturday night been declared winner of Idah state constituency re-run election.

According to the Returning Officer of the election, Prof. Femi Ajayi, Idoko polled 8,346 votes to beat his closest rival, James Ukwubile of the PDP, who scored 8,274 votes.

The result of Ofu state constituency re-run is still being awaited.

Meanwhile, INEC has declared the result of Imo North Senatorial District rerun election inconclusive.

Also declared inconclusive were the results of Oru East and Isiala Mbano State Constituencies following reported cases of shot out which characterised the exercise in some communities in the two affected areas.

The shootings were reported at Okata and Amiri in Oru East, while skirmishes and snatching of ballot boxes characterised the election in some communities in Isiala Mbano area.

Prof. Arinze Agbogu, the INEC Returning Officer for Imo North Senatorial District who announced the result on Sunday, however said that Mr Ben Uwajumogu, APC’s senatorial candidate, polled 48,921.

Agbogu also announced that PDP’s Athan Achonu scored 40,142 votes to emerge second in the already declared result.?He explained that results of several polling units in Isiala Mbano area were characterised by irregularities leading to cancelation of the results.

Agbogu explained that the exercise was cancelled in 15 polling units with a total of 13,000 registered voters.?According to him, the difference between the candidate with the highest score and the second stood at 8,777 votes.