The APC has swept all 24 chairmanship seats in Gombe State's local government elections held Saturday. All 240 councillorship positions also went to the ruling party.
Abdullahi Garba Talasse, chairman of the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission, announced the results on Saturday. He declared victory for APC across every local government council and newly created LCDA.
Gombe expanded its local government structure significantly. The state went from 11 councils with 114 councillors to 24 councils and LCDAs with 240 councillors.
Talasse called the successful conduct of elections in the new LCDAs a democratic milestone. According to him, the commission worked closely with the State House of Assembly to secure legal backing for the exercise.
"We did not struggle for the enabling law in vain," he told reporters. "Today, we have successfully conducted elections across the 24 councils and LCDAs, which is a significant achievement for the state."
Opposition parties failed to mount any serious challenge. Talasse attributed their poor showing to limited participation across the state.
Only three chairmanship positions saw candidates from the African Congress (AC). The Democratic Liberation Alliance (DLA) contested in just six councils.
Three other parties had minimal presence. The New Nigeria People's Movement, Youth Party and Zenith Labour Party each fielded chairmanship candidates in only three councils.
Councillorship races saw similar patterns of limited opposition participation. AC contested in eight wards, while DLA, NRM, YP and ZLP each put up candidates in 11 wards.
"That explains why some parties recorded zero votes in several areas," Talasse noted. "They simply did not participate across all the councils and wards."
Chairmanship results were initially declared at various local government collation centres. Talasse said the commission presented a statewide summary to journalists, observers and the public for transparency.
"From the results before the commission, APC has won all the 24 chairmanship seats and all the 240 councillorship positions," he declared.
Talasse commended multiple stakeholders for ensuring peaceful polls. Political parties, election observers, civil society groups and security agencies all contributed to the smooth exercise.
He also praised party leaders and government officials who monitored the elections. In his view, their participation proved crucial to the electoral process's success.
