The All Progressives Congress (APC) has once again tightened its grip on Kebbi State politics after its candidate, Rabiu Garba Aiki, emerged victorious in the highly anticipated Zuru State Constituency by-election.
The result, officially announced on Saturday, confirmed a commanding win for Aiki, who secured an overwhelming majority of the votes cast, leaving opposition candidates trailing far behind.
The Returning Officer and Collation Officer for the election, Prof. Muhammad Bashar of the Federal University Birnin Kebbi, declared the APC candidate winner at the official collation centre after the completion of vote counting across the constituency.
According to the final figures released by the electoral body, Aiki polled an impressive 4,887 votes, comfortably defeating his closest challenger, Aliyu Galadima Muhammad of the Labour Party, who managed to secure just 168 votes.
Election statistics revealed that the constituency has a total of 109,385 registered voters. However, only 5,156 voters were accredited for the exercise, highlighting a relatively low turnout. Out of the ballots cast, 5,055 votes were declared valid, while 95 were rejected.
A breakdown of the ward-by-ward results showed APC’s dominance across all ten wards that make up the constituency, further demonstrating the party’s strong political influence in the area.
The by-election was organized to fill the vacant seat left behind following the death of the former Speaker of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, Muhammad Usman Zuru.
Although the election was generally described as peaceful and orderly, political observers noted the low voter participation, with only a small percentage of registered voters turning out to exercise their civic rights.
