The All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared the Auditor-General for Local Government Affairs, Usman Ahmed Ododo, as winner of the April 14 primary election in Kogi State.
According to the secretary of the primary election committee, Patrick Obahiagbon, Ododo, who is the anointed candidate of Governor Yahaya Bello, scored 78,704 votes to beat his rivals.
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Shaibu Abubakar Audu got 763 votes, Stephen Ikani Ocheni scored 532 votes, Sanusi Ohaire polled 424 votes while Senator Smart Adeyemi got 311 votes.
The result was declared around 1.30am on Saturday.
According to the breakdown, 83,419 party members were accredited for the election.
However, the name of Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, one of the contestants, was missing from the result sheet.
This may not be unconnected with the earlier report, which quoted chairman of the APC screening committee, Mohammed Bello Matawale, to have said Ajaka, a member of the APC National Working Committee, was barred from the election .
A source stated that Ajaka left the state for Abuja on Friday to lodge his grievances against the election.
Meanwhile, Governor Yahaya Bello has said the primary election across the 239 wards of the state was peaceful and orderly.
However, our correspondent noted that parallel elections held in some local governments areas.
It was gathered that parallel elections held in the nine local government areas in the eastern senatorial District, including Lokoja, Kogi-Kotokarfei and Ajaokuta.
