By Bala Dauda
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won all the 17 chairmanship seats in the Sept. 26 local government elections conducted across Yobe State.
The Yobe State Independent Electoral Commission (YOSIEC) announced the results on Sunday in Damaturu.
Declaring the results, the Chairman of the commission, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Yabani, said the election was conducted across the 178 electoral wards in the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
He said 10 political parties participated in the chairmanship and councillorship elections adding that votes were counted, collated and declared in accordance with relevant electoral guidelines and applicable laws.
Yabani said the APC candidate in Bade Local Government Area, Musa Kalan Degona, won with 54,312 votes, while the party’s candidate in Bursari, Lawan Bukar, secured 24,331 votes.
He said the commission did not receive any official report of ballot-box snatching in Gulani Local Government Area, explaining that the elections were conducted in the area with the results collated and the necessary returns submitted.
He said security concerns might have prompted electoral officials to move election materials to a collation centre, noting that Gulani was among the areas affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
On voter sensitisation, the YOSIEC chairman dismissed claims that the exercise was inadequate, saying the commission conducted sensitisation campaigns across the 178 wards.
He said voter turnout exceeded the commission’s expectations, citing Potiskum, where the winning candidate polled 58,500 votes, as evidence of significant participation.
Yabani also said no political party was excluded from the election, adding that all parties were given equal opportunities to participate.
He, however, said the commission could not compel any political party that chose not to contest to participate in the election.
The chairman directed members of the public to the commission’s website for details of the political parties that participated in the election.
He added that the parties were also listed on the ballot papers used during the poll, saying that the state had 178 councillors, with one councillor representing each electoral ward.
He added that the councillor elected in Fune contested on the platform of the Action Peoples Party (APP), while the councillor elected in Karasuwa contested on the platform of the Allied Democratic Party (ADP).
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yobe chapter, Comrade Umar Adamu Jajere, said the council accepted the election results in good faith.
Jajere stated this while addressing journalists in Damaturu after the announcement of the results, describing the election as free, fair, credible and successful.
He said the council would continue to support the democratic process and urged stakeholders to accept the results andmaintain peace across the state.