GOING by the results so far declared by the Niger State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the chairman, Northern States Governors Forum and Niger State governor, Dr Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, may have lost his bid for the Niger East senatorial seat to the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, David Umaru.
The APC candidate, as of the time of filing this report, was leading in six local government areas out of nine in the senatorial district.
The governor, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was roundly defeated in all the wards of the five local government areas of district so far officially declared by INEC.
He had already polled 46,459 votes as against 149,443 votes recorded by the APC candidate.
The returning officer for the district, Professor Ali Audu Jiigam, said the APC candidate polled 49,519 votes in Chanchaga Local Government, Aliyu's council, where the governor was only able to poll 17,209 votes.
In Gurara Local Government, Aliyu recorded 6,520 votes as against the APC candidate's 18,887 votes while in Shiroro Local Government, Umaru maintained the lead of his council with 27,191 votes to PDP's 7,519 votes.
The APC candidate also trounced Aliyu in Tafa with 17,596 votes as against 8,151 votes for the PDP candidate, while in Bosso Local Government, APC had 36,250 votes and PDP 7,060 votes.
In Bosso, it was a landslide for the APC candidate with 36,250 voters over PDP that got 7,060 votes. The APC also extended the winning streak in Munya where its candidate polled 13,666 votes over against Governor Aliyu of PDP with 6,635 votes.
As of the time of filing this report, three local governments of Suleja, Paikoro and Rafi were yet to arrive at the collation centre.
David Umaru contested twice for the Governorship position twice under the platform of ANPP and CPC respectively and recently as Senator and also lost only to be given his mandate few days ago through the Appeal Court that sat in Abuja.
