>
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello, winner of the 2019 governorship election in Kogi state.
Bello scored a total of 406,222 votes to defeat his closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Engr. Musa Wada who polled a total of 189,804 votes to come a distant second.
The candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Natasha Akpoti came third with 9,482 votes, while a total of 149,576 were cancelled, leaving a margin of 216,518.
The state collation officer and Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University,Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Garba announced the result at about 11.53 am on Monday after receiving results from the last two local government areas.
Bello won majority votes in 12 of the 21 local government areas in the state, while Wada won majority votes in nine local government areas.
The agent of the PDP at the collation centre, John Agada, however declined to sign the final result saying it was not a reflection of what actually took place during the election.
Declaring the result, the collation officer said “that Bello Yahaya of the APC, having satisfies the provision of the law and scored the highest votes is hereby returned elected.”
About 25 political parties contested the governorship election which was reportedly marred by incidences of violence, ballot box snatching amongst others.