Yahaya Bello, the substitute governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has formally been declared the winner of the Kogi state governorship election.
In the supplementary poll on Saturday, Bello won 6,885 votes to take APC’s unassailable lead to 247,742, while the incumbent governor, Idris Wada, got 5,363 votes, taking PDP’s total to 204,877.
Emmanuel Kucha, the INEC returning officer, announced the results of the supplementary election on Saturday night, while a formal declaration was made on Sunday morning after the results were merged.
Bello was nominated by the APC to replace Abubakar Audu, candidate of the party in the November 21 election who died as results were being collated on November 22.
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Audu had polled 240,861, putting the APC in the lead, while Wada secured 199,514 votes.
But the election was declared inconclusive because the margin of votes (41,353) between the two leading candidates was less than the number of cancelled votes (49,953) which could theoretically affect the final outcome.
The supplementary election results showed that Bello won in 11 local government areas (LGAs) out of 19 in the state while Wada won in seven LGAs only.
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The LGAs in which the APC substitute governorship candidate won are Dekina- where Wada hails from- Ajaokuta, Okene, Okehi, Adavi, Ibaji, Kogi Koton Karfe, Bassa, Lokoja, Kabba Bunu, and Yagba west.
The incumbent governor on the other hand won in seven LGAs which are Omala, Olamaboro, Igalamela, Idah, Ijumu, Ankpa, and Ofu.
A total of 1, 379, 971 voters were registered for the Kogi election while 526, 389 voters were accredited.
The total number of valid votes was 472,983 while total votes cast was 494,723 and rejected votes, 21,740.
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The number of cancelled votes this time stood at 3,342 across five polling units in the state, far less than the margin of votes between the two leading contenders.
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