INEC Declares APC Candidate Winner of Kwara By-election

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kwara State at the weekend declared the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) winner in the Patigi state constituency by-election for the state House of Assembly, Hon. Adam Ahmed Rufai.

Rufai polled 10,354 votes to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, Hon. Mohammed Salihu Yahaya, who polled 4,623 votes.

The elected lawmaker would replace his late brother, Saidu Ahmed Rufai, who died in December last year after a brief illness, and will represent Patigi constituency at the state assembly.

Announcing the result of the election in Patigi at the weekend, the INEC Returning Officer of  the election, Dr. Abdulazeez Ishola Musbau of University of Ilorin, said the APC candidate, Rufai was declared the winner because he polled the highest vote cast of 10,354 during the poll.

According to him, “Hon. Adam Ahmed Rufai of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of vote cast is hereby declared winner.

"The election, which was contested among the six candidates from various political parties of AAC, ADC, APC, APM, NNPP, and PDP, was acknowledged to be peaceful and credible by the stakeholders and other participants in the election."

 

Reacting to the victory, the state Chairman of the APC, Hon. Bashr Bolarinwa, said: "The victory of Rufai at the election is a reaffirmation of the faith in our party and definite statement to our traducers that we are still the party to beat."

In a statement issued and signed in Ilorin yesterday by him, the party chairman urged the assembly elected member to see his victory as an opportunity to continue the worthy legacies of his predecessor and brother.

Bolarinwa, therefore, urged the members of the party to continue to work together as a team so as to move the party to a greater height.

Also, the Speaker of the state Assembly, Salihu Yakubu Danladi, has congratulated the APC candidate, Rufai, for his electoral victory in the Patigi constituency by-election.

The lawmaker, in a congratulatory message issued through his Special Assistant on Media, Ibrahim Sheriff, in Ilorin, yesterday said the victory reaffirmed the support of the people of Patigi state constituency to the pro-people state Governor, AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq, administration.