Bello gets certificate of return as Kogi governor for second term

Kogi state governor Yahaya Bello and his deputy-elect Edward Onoja have been issued their certificate of return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Lokoja.

Bello, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was re-elected for a second term after Saturday, November 16 election.

The returning officer for the election and vice-chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Professor Ibrahim Umar, announced the result at the INEC office in Lokoja on Monday, November 18.

Bello won 12 local governments to beat his major challenger Musa Wada of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who won 9 local governments.

In total, Umar said Bello polled 406,222 votes. Wada polled 189,704. The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Natasha Akpoti polled 9482 votes to come third.

“This victory is for Kogi people that value true democracy,” Bello said after the election result was announced.

“We thank Kogites who voted for us. We also thank Kogi people who did not vote for us; they have challenged the governor to do more for them to earn their confidence.”

Bello’s description of the election contradicts the view of his closest contestants- Wadda of the PDP and SDP’s Akpoti.

Both opposition candidates rejected the governorship election result.

“They (Kogi people) should not despair,” Wada said in a video tweeted by the PDP.

The PDP candidate said the announced results were fabricated and he will challenge the outcome in court.

SDP candidate Akpoti said the election results did not represent how the people voted.

Akpoti accused APC and winner of the election Yahaya Bello of using violence to subvert the will of the people.

The returning officer noted that a total of 1,646,350 people registered for the election while 636,202 were accredited to vote.

He explained that the margin between Bello and the runner-up Wadda was 216,518 votes.