THE Allied People’s Movement (APM) has recorded a clean sweep in Monday’s local government council elections in Bauchi State, winning all 20 chairmanship seats across the state.
News Point Nigeria reports that the APM also won 319 councillorship seats, while four other councillorship positions were secured 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).
Announcing the results on Monday night, the Chairperson of the Bauchi State Independent Electoral Commission (BASIEC), Jummai Abubakar, declared the APM candidates winners of the chairmanship elections in all 20 local government areas.
She said the APM candidates also emerged victorious in 319 councillorship seats across the state, while the remaining four seats went to candidates of the SDP, NRM, ZLP and YPP.
Abubakar assured residents of the state that the elections were conducted independently and in accordance with the relevant laws, maintaining that all those declared winners were duly elected after satisfying the applicable legal requirements and securing the highest number of valid votes in their respective constituencies.
Her declaration came amid controversy surrounding the election, following the decision of opposition political parties in the state to boycott the exercise.
Members of the opposition, operating under the Coalition of Opposition Parties in Bauchi State, had on Sunday announced their decision to withdraw from the election, alleging that the process was designed to favour the ruling APM.
However, Governor Bala Mohammed, shortly after casting his vote, described the election process as peaceful and orderly, insisting that the withdrawal of some political parties would not undermine the legitimacy of the exercise.
The governor maintained that the conduct of the poll remained valid despite the boycott by members of the opposition coalition.
Ahead of the election, the Bauchi State Government had declared Monday a work-free day across the state to enable residents to participate fully in the exercise.
The public holiday applied to civil servants and other public-sector workers, including employees at the local government, state and federal levels working within Bauchi State.
Workers in the banking sector were also covered by the work-free-day declaration, which the state government said was aimed at giving citizens and eligible voters sufficient opportunity to participate fully in the local government council elections.
