APC Wins Four Bye-Election Seats Across Three Regions, APM Takes Bauchi
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has recorded victories in four of the five legislative bye-elections conducted across Gombe, Kano, Bauchi and Delta states, giving the ruling party wins spanning three geopolitical zones as political parties intensify preparations ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Allied Peoples Movement (APM), however, prevented an APC clean sweep after capturing the Sakwa State Constituency seat in Bauchi State.
Results from the elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showed the APC winning in the North-East, North-West and South-South.
In Gombe State, APC candidate Kallamu Usman MaiJama’a emerged winner of the Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency election after polling 41,121 votes.
The election was conducted to fill the House of Representatives seat left vacant following the death of the former lawmaker representing the constituency, Yaya Bauchi Tongo.
In Kano State, Husseini Yusuf Datti of the APC secured the Dawakin Kudu State Constituency seat with 22,890 votes.
The ruling party also recorded victory in Delta State, where Ator Okolosi emerged winner of the Udu State Constituency election with 8,724 votes. His closest rival, George Orugbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled 212 votes.
Bauchi produced the only split outcome of the exercise.
Yakubu Ali of the APC won the Disina State Constituency in Shira Local Government Area after securing 5,846 votes, ahead of the APM candidate who polled 5,225 votes.
But the APM turned the table in Sakwa State Constituency, Zaki Local Government Area, where its candidate, Adamu Yakubu, secured 8,515 votes to defeat the APC candidate, who received 3,771 votes.
The Sakwa seat became vacant following the death of former lawmaker Mohammad Wanzam Zaki, while the Disina vacancy followed the resignation of the previous legislator to contest a local government chairmanship election.
The outcome means the APC finished the multi-state electoral exercise with four seats, while the APM secured one.
APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, welcomed the results and commended INEC, security agencies and other stakeholders involved in the elections.
Yilwatda described the victories as reflecting voters’ confidence in the party and urged the successful APC candidates to regard their election as a responsibility to provide effective representation.
President Bola Tinubu also congratulated all the winners, including APM’s Adamu Yakubu, while describing the APC’s four victories as evidence, in his view, of continuing grassroots support for the ruling party.
Aviation and Aerospace Development Minister Festus Keyamo separately highlighted the geographical distribution of the APC victories, noting that the party secured seats in Kano in the North-West, Bauchi and Gombe in the North-East and Delta in the South-South.
Keyamo argued that the geographical spread carried significance ahead of the 2027 elections. His assessment represents the APC minister’s political interpretation of the bye-election results rather than a prediction of the outcome of the nationwide general elections.
The latest contests also carried significance for INEC’s preparations for 2027.
INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan had described the bye-elections as important operational tests for the commission ahead of the general elections, saying such exercises provide opportunities to examine logistics, technology and administrative readiness.
With the five contests concluded, the results provide fresh data on party performance in the affected constituencies, although bye-election outcomes in five constituencies cannot by themselves establish how voters nationally will behave in the 2027 general elections.
