In keeping with trends by ruling political parties in many states of the federation, the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday, cleared all the chairmanship and councillorship positions in Benue state’s local government poll
By Emma Ogbuehi
In keeping with trends by ruling political parties in many states of the federation, the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday, cleared all the chairmanship and councillorship positions in Benue state’s local government poll. The governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, belongs to the APC.
The Chairman of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), Richard Tombowua, made the declaration on Sunday.
Announcing the results of the election at the headquarters of the commission located along Naka Road, Tombowua said that the APC won all 23 chairmanships and 276 councillorship positions contested in the state.
He said, “The election held yesterday across the state went off without a hitch; it was free and fair, and the returning officers have submitted all the results from the field.
“From the results, the All Progressives Congress won all 23 chairmanship and 276 councillorship positions.”
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He added that five of the eight political parties that submitted lists of candidates participated in the Saturday election.
The SIEC chairman listed the parties that participated in the Saturday election as follows: All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, Social Democratic Party, and All Progressives Grand Alliance.
Responding to the declaration of the results, the state chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council and the Labour Party, Ibrahim Idoko, commended the commission for its commitment towards a hitch-free election.
Idoko, who also commended the state governor, Hyacinth Alia, for providing a level playing field for all parties in the election, stated that his party would review the outcome of the election and make its submission known at a later date.
APC had recorded similar feats in Imo, Sokoto, Kwara where it is the ruling party. In Imo State, the APC cleared all the 305 Councillorship and 27 Chairmanship positions in the state’s 27 Local Government Areas. Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC), Charles Ejiogu, declared the results without announcing the figures polled by the parties that participated in the exercise. He simply announced that “the APC emerged as a winner across the board”, even as the Peoples Democratic Party and other political parties in the state dismissed the exercise as a farce.
In Sokoto, the chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, Aliyu Suleiman, announced that the APC won all 23 chairmanship positions and all councillorship seats across the state’s 23 local government areas. Fifteen political parties participated in the elections, but the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), did not take part.
APC equally clinched all the chairmanship and councillorship positions across the 16 local government councils and 193 wards of Kwara State, according to the Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, Mohammed Baba-Okanla.
On the other hand, in Enugu, the Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) Prof. Christian Ngwu, declared the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the entire councils in the state. Candidates of the opposition political parties were absent from the ENSIEC declaration, indicating their disapproval of the outcome.
Following same trend, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) emerged victorious in the 28 September 2024 local government elections in Anambra State, securing all chairmanship and councillorship seats across the 21 local government areas.
The only different situation so far, is in Rivers State, where the ruling party, the PDP did not win in last Saturday’s council poll, apparently because of the feud between the governor, Sim Fubara and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike. However, the governor’s supporters who moved to the African Peoples Party (APP), swept the polls in the 23 councils in the state.