The Allied People’s Movement (APM) has won all 20 chairmanship seats in Monday’s local government council elections in Bauchi State.
Announcing the results on Monday night, the Chairperson of the Bauchi State Independent Electoral Commission (BASIEC), Jummai Abubakar, declared that APM candidates also won 319 councillorship seats.
Four other councillorship seats were won by candidates of other political parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Young Progressives Party (YPP).
She assured residents that the elections were conducted independently and that the winners were duly elected, having satisfied the applicable legal requirements and secured the highest number of valid votes in their respective constituencies.
Members of the opposition, under the Coalition of Opposition Parties in the state, had on Sunday announced their decision to boycott the election, alleging that the exercise was designed to favour the ruling APM.
But Governor Bala Mohammed, shortly after casting his vote, described the process as peaceful, saying the withdrawal of some political parties would not undermine the legitimacy of the election.
The Bauchi State Government had declared Monday as a work-free day across the state to enable civil servants and other public servants, including workers at the local government, state and federal levels working in the state, as well as employees in the banking sector, to participate fully in the election.
