From DAVID MICHAEL, Lafia
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Halilu Danladi Envulanza, has won the Nasarawa North Senatorial District by-election, polling 45,362 votes to defeat candidates of other political parties in the contest held on Saturday.
Declaring the result at the collation centre in Akwanga, the Returning Officer, Prof. Aminu Ali, said Envulanza, having satisfied the requirements of the law, was duly elected and returned as winner of the election.
According to the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Labour Party candidate, Labaran Maku, came second with 12,931 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr. Emmanuel David Ombugadu, secured 11,570 votes.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Alaku Mohammed Steve, polled 1,496 votes, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate, John Wall Araneshiri, scored 102 votes.
Meanwhile, Labour Party agents at the senatorial district collation centre staged a walkout in protest against the collation process, alleging manipulation of results.
The LP team, led by Dr. Ben Ango, left the College of Education collation centre alongside other party members before the exercise was concluded.
The protest followed the collation of results from Akwanga, Nasarawa Eggon and Wamba local government areas, which make up the Nasarawa North Senatorial District.
Although Dr. Ango declined to speak with journalists before leaving the venue, some Labour Party officials expressed dissatisfaction with the conduct of the collation process.
There were also allegations of BVAS malfunctions and ballot irregularities in some polling units during the election.