Speaker Yakubu Dogara may still be physically a member of the All Progressives Congress, his spirit is already in the Peoples Democratic Party as the party’s candidate, Ladan Salihu won Dogara’s Bogoro local government in the Bauchi South senatorial bye-election on Saturday.
Salihu, a former broadcaster, got 6,646 votes as against the 3,992 votes scored by the APC candidate, Lawal Yahaya Gumau, according to the official result declared this morning in Bauchi. Total valid votes cast in the local council was 15,872.
Collation of the bye-election result that the APC’s Gumau is expected to win massively has just begun, slowed down by the heavy rain that fell Saturday evening.
Apart from Salihu and Gumau, six other candidates took part in the election, including a former governor of the state, Isa Yuguda, who ran on the platform of Green Party of Nigeria.
Others are Haruna Ayuba (African Democratic Congress ), Aminu Tukur (Action Peoples party), Usman Hassan (Kowa Party), the only woman in the race Maryam Bargel (Social Democratic Party), Husseini Umar (New Nigeria Peoples Party) and Usman Chaledi (People for Democratic Change).
Activities at the collation centre in Bauchi resumed today, with results from Dass, Toro and Kirfi local councils also announced.
In Dass local government, the APC candidate won 7,432 votes, while PDP got 4028. Yuguda of GNP got 2,117, and the SDP 1,009.
In the Toro Local Government APC got 30,658, while PDP came a distant second with 8420 votes. GPN and NNPP trailed with 5,624 and 8075 votes.
APC also led in Kirfi local government with 11,051 votes. PDP got 3336 votes, out of a total 17043 valid votes cast.
The results for Bauchi, Tafawa-Balewa and Alkaleri are now being awaited.
Before the announcement of the collated results, the Bauchi Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor Abdullahi called on participants to be magnanimous in victory and gallant in defeat.
Professor Ahmed Fadam of the Department of Agriculture, Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa University, Bauchi, is the chief returning officer for the election.
The bye-election arose following the death of Senator Ali Wakili in March.
