Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will regain the two senatorial seats recently lost to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) due to tribunal rulings.
Gatekeepers News reports that Bello told journalists at the Aso Rock presidential villa on Thursday that APC will retrieve the two seats from the PDP candidates at the higher court.
The National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, located in Lokoja, recently nullified the election of Jibrin Isah-Echocho, who represented Kogi East Senatorial District in the National Assembly on the ground that elections were cancelled in 94 polling units.
The tribunal also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a supplementary election in the affected 94 polling units.
The Tribunal delivered the judgment in the petition filed against the election of Echocho of APC by Victor Adoji, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 25 February election.
Adoji had challenged the result of the election over claims that elections were cancelled in some polling units where the PVCs collected were more than the margin of his win.
Already, Echocho has indicated that he will appeal the judgment of the tribunal.
Furthermore, the tribunal nullified the victory of Abubakar Ohere, the APC Senator representing Kogi East, and declared Natasha Akpoti of the PDP as the winner.
The tribunal found that the votes recorded for Ohere in the election were inflated in nine polling units in Ajaokuta Local Government Area of the senatorial district.
It also noted that Natasha’s votes were intentionally reduced by INEC in certain areas, with the results of three other polling units not recorded for her. After adding the votes, the tribunal declared Natasha Akpoti the winner with 54,074 votes against Ohere’s 51,291.
Governor Bello, however, stated that the APC would appeal these decisions and expressed confidence that the party would ultimately retain all three senatorial seats won in the February 25 National Assembly election.
“I want to assure you that even judging from yesterday’s pronouncement at the appeal court, we’re going to have our three-over-three senate in Kogi State, I can assure you,” he told.
