The All Progressives Congress won four of the five legislative seats contested in weekend by-elections across Gombe, Kano, Delta and Bauchi states, while the Allied Peoples Movement secured the remaining seat.
The APC candidates declared winners by the Independent National Electoral Commission were Kallamu Usman MaiJama’a in Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency, Husseini Datti in Dawakin Kudu State Constituency, Okolosi Ator in Udu State Constituency and Yakubu Ali in Disina State Constituency. APM’s Adamu Yakubu won the Sakwa State Constituency seat in Bauchi.
In Gombe, Kallamu polled 41,121 votes to defeat the Labour Party candidate, who scored 3,553 votes. In Kano, Datti secured 22,890 votes in Dawakin Kudu, while the Peoples Redemption Party candidate received 270 votes and the PDP candidate scored 108.
In Delta, Ator won Udu State Constituency with 8,724 votes, defeating the PDP candidate with 212 votes. The APC candidate also led across all 10 wards. In Bauchi, APC’s Ali won Disina with 5,846 votes against APM’s 5,225, while APM’s Yakubu won Sakwa with 8,515 votes.
President Bola Tinubu congratulated the winners and described the APC results as evidence of what he called continuing grassroots support for his administration and its economic reforms. He urged Nigerians to remain steadfast, while asking the winners to regard their victories as a mandate for effective representation.
The elections were generally peaceful, although some polling units experienced challenges, including BVAS malfunctions and variations in voting commencement times. INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan described the polls as tests of the commission’s preparedness and said lessons from the exercises would inform improvements in logistics, technology and field operations ahead of the general elections.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo described the APC victories as significant ahead of the 2027 elections, citing their spread across three regions. He also offered his own interpretation of their possible implications for the presidential contest, while INEC said some results remained outstanding in four constituencies at the time of reporting.
