The All Progressives Congress (APC) has won all 24 chairmanship seats and 240 councillorship positions contested in Saturday’s local government elections in Gombe State.
The elections, conducted across were largely peaceful, with voters turning out in large numbers as security personnel, election officials and observers monitored the exercise.
Announcing the results for the state’s 11 Local Government Areas and the newly created 13 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), in Gombe on Saturday, Chairman of the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC), Abdullahi Garba Talasse, declared the APC winner of all the chairmanship and councillorship seats contested.
However, the landslide victory of the ruling party came amid the absence of major opposition parties in the state, the Peoples Democrac Party (PDP) and the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) from the polls.
But according to the state’s electoral body officer, African Congress (AC) fielded chairmanship candidates in only three councils, while the Democratic Liberation Alliance (DLA) contested in six. The New Nigeria People’s Movement (NRM), Youth Party (YP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) each sponsored candidates in three chairmanship elections.
For the councillorship polls, he said AC contested in only eight wards, while DLA, NRM, YP and ZLP each fielded candidates in 11 wards out of the 240 contested.
He said “That explains why some parties recorded zero votes in several areas because they did not participate across all the councils and wards.”
Earlier, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, after casting his vote at Yahaya Umaru Polling Unit 010 in Jekadafari Ward, Gombe, described the exercise as peaceful, free and fair.
The governor expressed satisfaction with the large voter turnout, saying it reflected public confidence in the democratic process and his administration’s commitment to strengthening grassroots governance.
He also said reports from across the state indicated that voting proceeded without major security incidents and urged all contestants to accept the outcome of the election.
Efforts by LEADERSHIP to obtain the reaction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the state’s main opposition party, were unsuccessful as the party chairman neither answered telephone calls nor responded to text messages as of the press time.
