Katsina north bye-election: APC defeats PDP with over 150,000 votes

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Ahmed Babba-Kaita of the All Progressives Congress (APC ) as the winner of the bye-election conducted in the Katsina north senatorial district.

Hudu Ayuba-Abdullahi, the returning officer who announced the result at 4:42 am in Daura on Sunday, said Kaita, a member of the house of representatives scored 224,607 votes, while his elder brother and a retired customs officer, Kabir Babba-Kaita of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 59,724 votes.

Abdullahi said the total number of registered voters was 864,046.The number of accredited voters was 308,500.

According to him, the total votes cast was 294,050, out of which 287,155 votes were counted as valid and 10,891 rejected.

Six political parties contested for the seat, which became vacant after the death of Bukar Mustapha.

Apart from the APC and PDP, the other parties that took part in the election were Democratic Alliance (DA),Green Party of Nigeria (GPN), MNM and MPN.

GPN scored 1056, DA 796, MPN 633 and MMN 343 votes.

Habibu Suleiman, the agent of the PDP. who signed the results, alleged that there were irregularities.

Katsina north senatorial district is the district of President Muhammadu Buhari, now away to London on a vacation.

The APC candidate defeated the PDP candidate in all the 12 local councils that make up the district.