Jubilation and ecstasy have gripped the streets and byways of Lokoja as the Independent National Electoral Commission early this morning declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Alh. Yahaya Bello as the winner of the Kogi governorship poll.
APC polled 247,752 votes to defeat PDP which polled 204,877 votes. APC polled 6885 votes to beat PDP which polled 5363 votes in the supplementary election which witnessed voter apathy .
Declaring the results in Lokoja, the Chief Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, said having fulfilled all legal requirements, Alh. Yahaya Bello is declared winner of the election and is returned Kogi Governor-Elect.
Kucha declared: “That Yahaya Bello, having polled the highest number of votes and satisfied the law is hereby returned elected”.
The collation of results was finalised in the early hours of Sunday. It however witnessed a nuanced drama when an agent of the PDP asked about the status of APC running mate. The Resident Electoral Commissioner answered and said Faleke remains the running mate to Alh. Yahaya Bello. This momentarily stopped the collation which resumed as soon as the air was cleared. The supplementary poll took place in 18 of the 21 Local Government Areas in the state.
Though Bello has been declared winner, it is very likely that the battle will now shift to the tribunal especially with the lack of jurisdiction declared by a High Court in the matter filed by Faleke. It is not also likely that the camp of the PDP would easily give up on the matter.
