BY EDMOND ODOK – The senatorial candidate of the Labour Party in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has finally ended the 12 years stint of Senator Philip Aduda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Nigerian Senate.
Ireti polled a total of 202,175 votes to beat Aduda who garnered 100,544 votes to place second while All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Angulu Dobi came third with 78,905 votes
Announcing the result on Tuesday in Abuja, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer, Professor Sanni Saka of the University of Abuja, said Ireti, who is the wife of one-time Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe, emerged the winner having satisfied the provisions of the law.
“I, Professor Sanni Saka, thereby certify that I am the Returning Officer for the 2023 FCT Senatorial district election held on February 25. The election was contested and the candidates received the votes as announced. That Ireti Kingibe having satisfied the requirement of the law has been declared the winner”, the INEC Official declared
He explained that the issues with the Bwari Area Council’s poll earlier cancelled were rectified and the result validated, adding that the result for Abaji still remained cancelled because the problem had not been sorted out.
However, reacting to the development, the APC agent, Suleiman Ango, and his PDP counterpart, Abdulrahman Mohammed, refused to sign the result sheet, insisting that it was not authentic and does not reflect the actual votes scored by their respective candidates in the election.
Bidding to return to the Red Chamber for a fourth term, Aduda is the longest-serving senator to represent FCT in the National Assembly and had earlier served two terms in the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2011.
