As states across Nigeria continue to hold by-elections earlier postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Kogi state seems to have made history with its recent results as the opposition cries foul.
Announcing the results from the recently concluded polls, the Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC), Mamman Nda Eri, disclosed that the candidates of the state’s ruling political party, All Progressives Congress (APC), had swept all the 21 Local Government Chairmanship seats available during the elections. While reeling out the results, it was also revealed that the APC swept all 239 councillorship posts in the state, leaving all opposition parties with nothing.
Commending traditional rulers, security agencies, the political parties, as well as the media for their cooperation in making the elections a huge success, Nda Eri reiterated that although there was low turnout in some places, the elections were free, fair, and peaceful throughout as no single crisis was recorded during the election, very rare for Nigeria.
Pushback From The Opposition Party
The opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has described the elections as a sham, stressing that there was no election in the state.
The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Bode Ogunmola, in a statement released on Saturday, described the entire process as a scam, saying the state government should have stated that it was not ready to conduct an election, rather than waste the precious time of the electorate who were willing to express their anger through the ballot on the maladministration of APC in the last five years.
“We called on the members of our party to observe a month of mourning as a way of registering our displeasure to the conduct of the concluded Kogi State Council election,” he said.
An Historic Election For Women
On the other hand, the election was an historic moment in the state with women occupying all 21 Vice Chairmen slots across the state’s 21 Local Government Areas. Also, female councillors have been elected across various wards in the just concluded local government elections in Kogi state.
Speaking to the Vanguard, one of the women leaders in the state, Audu Doris, attributed the recent win to the 35 per cent female participation in politics affirmative action in Kogi state under the leadership of Governor Bello.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral and political reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
