The All Progressive Congress, APC (APC) was in the early hours of Sunday announced as the winner of Imo North North senatorial bye-election held on Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC).
However, no candidate was returned as winner as the two warring APC candidates, Ifeanyi Araraume and Frank Frank Ibezim got conflicting judgments in court.
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Announcing the results of the election, the Election Returning Officer, Hakeem Adikum said the APC polled a total of 36, 811 votes, while the PDP got 31,903 votes.
A further breakdown of the results showed that in Ehime Mbano, APC polled 7229 while PDP scored 5727 votes.
In Isiala Mbano, APC, 6,148 PDP, 3755 votes; Ihitte Uboma, APC 6809, PDP 5504; Onuimo, APC, 5540, PDP, 4475 votes.
In Obowo, the only local government out of six won by the opposition party, APC got 3,859, while the PDP 6, votes whereas in Okigwe,
APC polled,185 and PDP 5,220.
The returning officer said, “I hereby return the All Progressive Congress as the winner of the by-election held in Imo North on Saturday, December 5.
According to him, APC won in five out of six local governments in the senatorial district namely Okigwe,Onuimo, Isiala Mbano, Ehime Mbano, and Ihitte Uboma LGAs, while the PDP won in one local government area, Obowo.
However, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof Francis Ezeonu, said INEC was unable to return a candidate from the APC as winner because of several Court orders for and against Ibezim and Araraume.
Prior to the election, the APC has been engulfed in crisis over who is the proper candidate of the party for the NASS poll.
Two court judgements had surfaced on Friday, one from the Appeal Court, Owerri, and another from Federal High Court, Abuja.
The Court of Appeal, Owerri, had sacked Senator Ifeanyi Araraume as candidate of the party.
The court faulted the judgement of the Federal High Court, Owerri, which nullified the candidacy of Mr.Frank Ibezim.
The Federal High Court, Abuja, in it’s ruling declared Senator Araraume as the candidate of the party, on the grounds Frank Ibezim allegedly presented fake certificates to the APC and INEC.
The court had barred Ibezim from contesting the election on allegations of perjury.
The two court judgements might have compelled the electoral body not to declare any of the “candidates” in the APC, as winner of the election.
Plateau
In Plateau state, the candidate of the APC Prof. Dora Ladi Dadu’ut was also declared the winner of the Southern Senatorial bye-election in the state.
Prof. Idris Amali, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Federal University Lafia, who declared the result at the collation centre in Shendam said Prof. Dadu’ut of the APC had polled 83,151 votes to defeat PDP candidate, George Daika who polled 70, 838 votes in the election.
The election was held to fill the vacuum created following the death of Senator Ignatius Longjan who represented Plateau South in the red chamber.
With the result of the election, the APC in the state is still controlling two senatorial districts.
The result by LGAs
LANGTANG NORTH
APC: 12241
PDP: 16841
LANGTANG SOUTH
APC: 9321
PDP: 12439
MIKANG
APC: 8425
PDP: 7887
SHENDAM
APC: 18542
PDP: 10223.
QUAN-PAN LGA
APC: 12,784
PDP: 10, 641.
WASE
APC: 21838
PDP: 12,807
TOTAL
APC: 83,151
PDP: 70,838
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