The All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates have been declared winners of all the 21 Chairmanship positions and 239 councillor seats in Saturday Local Government elections in Kogi.
The Chairman of Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission, KOSIEC, Mamman Nda-Eri, made the declaration while announcing the results at the commission’s headquarters in Lokoja on Sunday.
Mr Nda-Eri said the election was conducted across the state’s 21 Local Government Areas, LGAs, 239 electoral wards and 3,508 polling units.
He said the collation of results from all the LGAs had been completed, with APC candidates securing the highest number of valid votes in all the seats contested.
The chairman consequently declared the APC candidates were elected to lead the 21 LGAs and represent the 239 wards in the state.
He commended political parties, security agencies, accredited election observers, journalists, traditional rulers, civil society organisations and voters for their cooperation and peaceful conduct before, during and after the election.
According to him, the commission conducted voter education and engaged relevant stakeholders ahead of the election to ensure a level playing field for the 12 political parties cleared to participate in the exercise.
Mr Nda-Eri said the commission did not receive any petition challenging the electoral process before or during the election.
He added that Certificates of Return would be issued to the elected chairmen and councillors on a date to be announced by the commission.
The KOSIEC chairman also commended Gov. Ahmed Ododo for providing the necessary logistics and enabling environment for the commission to discharge its responsibilities independently.
Meanwhile, some election observers described the exercise as one of the most peaceful grassroots elections in the state’s recent history.
NAN