The ruling party also secured all 239 councillorship positions, according to the state electoral commission, following Saturday’s local government polls.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won all 21 chairmanship seats and 239 councillorship positions in the Kogi State local government election held on Saturday, October 17.
Mamman Nda-Eri, chairman of the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC), announced the results on Sunday at the commission’s headquarters in Lokoja, after the collation exercise.
He declared APC candidates winners across the state’s 21 local government areas and 239 electoral wards.
“From the results so far announced by the power conferred on me as the chairman of Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission, I hereby declare that the 21 local government chairmen have been swept by the APC and 239 wards have been swept also by the APC for the councillorship,” Nda-Eri said.
“They are hereby returned elected as chairman and councillors of the various local governments and various wards in Kogi State.”
According to reports by Channels Television and Punch, the election covered 3,508 polling units across the state. Nda-Eri said the collation of results from all 21 local government areas had been completed.
Kogi local government election results
The outcome gives the APC control of every chairmanship and councillorship position contested in the poll, leaving no seats for other parties in the announced results.
The commission’s chairman declared the candidates elected after the collation process. The state government also published an account of the results announcement on Sunday, October 18.
However, the declaration of an all-seat victory does not, on its own, establish how competitive the contests were or how many voters participated. The reports reviewed for this story did not provide a statewide turnout figure or a breakdown of votes won by individual candidates.
Kogi local government election follows Gombe APC sweep
The result follows a similar outcome in Gombe State in June, when the APC won all 24 chairmanship positions and 240 councillorship seats, according to the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC).
GOSIEC chairman Abdullahi Garba announced the results after the June 27 election, which covered the state’s 11 local government areas and 13 local council development areas (LCDAs).
The creation of the 13 LCDAs increased the number of administrative councils covered by the election from 11 to 24. Six political parties participated in the chairmanship contests, although reports said the parties did not all field candidates across every area.
The two results mean the APC secured every chairmanship and councillorship seat declared in the respective elections in Kogi and Gombe. The outcomes also place attention on the level of competition in local government elections and the participation of opposition parties at the grassroots.
In Kogi, the electoral commission said the process of collating results had been concluded. Further details on voter turnout and candidate-by-candidate vote totals were not included in the reports reviewed for this story.
