August 17, (THEWILL) — Expectations of a major upset in Saturday’s by-election went up in smoke as the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP held on to their strongholds, while the African Democratic Congress, ADC, which had been making waves in the political landscape since it was adopted by a coalition of politicians on July 2, 2027, faltered.
Results so far uploaded on the Independent National Electoral Commission portal, IReV, as at press time showed that the two major political parties, APC, PDP and NNPP have won the election in their respective enclaves with significant margins.
In Edo State where the election was held to fill certain positions left vacant, Governor Monday Okpebholo and his Deputy, Hon. Dennis Idahosa, the APC led its closest rival, the PDP with over 70 per cent of the uploaded results.
In Kano State, the governing NNPP swept the polls. Also, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has maintained an early lead in the Anambra South Senatorial District poll with 97.83 per cent of results uploaded on the IRev portal.
Similarly, in the Ibadan North Federal Constituency results uploaded hundred per cent on the IRev portal, the PDP maintained a lead with the APC closely following.
Ordinarily, the conduct of by-elections in 12 states across the country into the National and State Assemblies as a result of resignations or death presented no high stakes. But in the preceding days when the coming of the ADC, which has attracted defectors from the APC, PDP, and Labour Party, while the troubled PDP has restored some order, the permutations and calculations towards 2027 have assumed a different dimension. For example, the heavyweights in the ADC come from zones and regions where their performance was expected to reset the calculations ahead of the 2027 general poll.
Former Kaduna governor, Nasir el-Rufai comes from the North-West geopolitical zone known to have delivered the majority of the northern votes that contributed to President Bola Tinubu’s victory in 2023. Two big states in the zone, Kaduna and Kano, featured by-elections.
The by-elections held in the Southwest, the President’s region, ADC’s win in either of the by-elections in Oyo, Ogun by-elections would improve the popularity of the party’s National Secretary, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
For Peter Obi who scored over 84.7 percent of votes cast in the South-East, the by-election in Anambra was also an acid test. In fact, the presidential candidate of the LP had to put out a message late Friday, tacitly endorsing the ADC candidate for the Anambra South Senatorial District, Donald Amamgbo when it became clear that INEC had rejected the Abure-led faction’s last minute manoeuvre to endorse LP candidates through a Nasarawa State High Court on Friday.
Obi, conveyed his endorsement of ADC candidates via his X handle:
“Kindly note that because the Labour Party has no recognised candidates by INEC due to the internal crisis, I humbly urge every member of the Obidient and COPDEM families to go out and vote for the coalition political party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), in their respective states.”
In Adamawa State, Atiku Abubakar’s home state, a federal constituency by-election was held in Ganye, with the PDP and ADA trading blame over vote buying. The outcome of the poll has shown that the old pattern remains.
WHERE INEC HELD THE POLLS
National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun confirmed the bye-elections, caused by the resignation or death of serving lawmakers, took place in two senatorial districts in Anambra and Edo States; five federal constituencies in Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Ogun, and Oyo States; and nine state constituencies spread across Adamawa, Anambra, Kaduna (2), Kano, Kogi, Niger, Taraba and Zamfara States.
He said that court-ordered rerun elections in Enugu South 1 State Constituency of Anambra State and Ghari/Tsanyawa State Constituency of Kano State were also held on the same day.
VOTE BUYING, THUGGERY
INEC, for which the by-election was a test-run towards the governorship poll in Anambra State holding on Saturday, November 8, 2025, as well as the upcoming governorship poll in Osun and Ekiti states on Saturday, August 8, 2026, the challenges of vote-buying, thuggery continue to cast a dark patch on the areas of fairness and transparency, more so when its officials were arrested for vote-buying.
As usual, vote-buying was recorded during the poll. While it was at the level of accusations in some areas, as it happened in Adamawa where the by-election took place in Ganye State Constituency, which reportedly witnessed a high voter turnout under the watchful eyes of security men, the governing PDP and rival APC, traded blame and accused one another of vote buying. Kaduna State recorded vote-buying in all its ugliness.
The Chairman of Ganye Local Government Area, Farouk Mohammed accused APC chieftains of “buying votes because their government has failed woefully, so they don’t have anything to tell Nigerians,” while the APC Adamawa State Organising Secretary, Mustapha Ribadu, also accused the PDP of vote buying during the by-election.”
Security operatives in Kaduna arrested an alleged vote buyer in possession of N25,963,000.
The suspect, identified as Shehu Aliyu Patangi, was caught in the act around 3:30 a.m. by a combined team of the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services , DSS, at a popular hotel along Turunku Road in Kaduna metropolis.
Police spokesman, DSP Mansir Hassan, who confirmed the arrest said the suspect confessed to the crime and pleaded for leniency.
“He confessed to the crime and begged for mercy. We wish to reiterate that anyone found attempting to undermine the electoral process will face the full wrath of the law,” DSP Hassan said.
In Iperu-Remo, Ikenne Local Government Area in Ogun State, two INEC officials and some politicians were arrested by security men who disclosed that intelligence showed that the Commission’s staff had earlier been contacted and given a large sum of money by party officials for vote buying during the by-election.
During interrogation, one of the INEC officials, a man who gave his name as Toryem Joe-Stans and the other a woman, who gave her name as Mandara Amina, claimed that their constituency supervision directed them to collect the money from a politician holed up in a hotel where three other accomplices were eventually arrested. The collaborators gave their names as Jonathan, Akeem Oyinlola and Bayo Ogunje, who said he was a state official of the PDP.
In a swift reaction, Director of Media and Communications of the PDP, Asiwaju Akinloye Bankole, told journalists that the party officer was arrested around 3:30am by security operatives who allegedly broke into his hotel room in what he described as a “commando-style operation”. The PDP officer was in his hotel room relaxing with his driver and an aide when he was whisked away, Bankole claimed, adding that it was a ploy by the authorities to disqualify the party’s candidate. “He had only ₦100,000 in his room. No electoral material was discovered in his hotel room or car.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, said the command is investigating the purported arrest of Tella and two INEC staff with a huge amount of money suspected to be for vote buying in the ongoing Remo Federal constituency by-election.
Ogunlowo said: “We are investigating the matter. That’s how much I can say for now.”
In Kano, the Police Command confirmed the arrest of 288 suspected thugs during the ongoing by-election in the Bagwai/Shanono and Ghari/Tsanyawa Federal Constituencies. The election was to produce a replacement for Halilu Kundila, a member of the Kano State House of Assembly, who died during a brief illness.
According to the Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Bakori, speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the election was marred by violence, with thugs allegedly hired to disrupt proceedings.
He said that eligible residents were afraid to come out and exercise their civil rights due to the presence of thugs wielding dangerous weapons, who were seen intimidating voters. He also said the thugs’ actions therefore made it difficult for many eligible voters to participate in the electoral process.
Following the police report, the APC called for the cancelation of the poll and a rerun. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, on Saturday, said the elections were marred by “extreme violence and disruption by armed thugs across several polling units” in the affected areas.
Morka said, “Verifiable reports from Shanono and Bagwai Local Government Areas and Ghari constituency have voters fleeing polling areas, with deployed security personnel overwhelmed by the violence, making the prospects of a credible election impossible.”
Bolarinwa Olowole, PDP candidate in Ogun State, said the thugs chased away voters and party agents.
In Edo State where the poll conduct was to fill the vacant senatorial seat following Okpebholo’s emergence as Governor of Edo State, the election was generally peaceful except for selected cases of BVAS malfunction, as observed by the governor after voting even at Ward 2 Polling Unit 1 in Udomi Primary School in Esan Central Local Government Area. Also the House of Representatives seat vacated by Deputy Governor Dennis Idahosa was also in contention in Ovia South West and Ovia South East Federal Constituencies
The PDP, however, disagreed with the governor on the peaceful conduct of the poll. The party state Chairman Tiny Aziegbemi alleged that “Governor Okpebholo, assisted by Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State “ effectively invaded Edo State to personally coordinate the assault on democracy.”
In Ovia Southwest, PDP House of Representatives candidate, Destiny Enabulele alleged that thugs, as early as 6:am invaded his father’s house and intimidated PDP members and later assaulted him after he cast his vote.
In Anambra State, where the bye-election was to fill the vacant position for the Onitsha North 1 constituency in the state House of Assembly, left vacant by Hon. Justice Azuka, who was kidnapped and killed, voter turn -out was low in the poll hotly contested by the candidates of the traditionally dominant political parties in the state, namely, the governing All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, the Young Progressives Party, YPP, APC and the new ADC.
In Oyo State, where the poll held in Ibadan North Federal Constituency in replacement of the late House of Representatives, Olajide Akinremi of the APC, the party’s candidate, Adewale Olatunji, told reporters that from reports reaching him, voter apathy was the only low point of the election that was peaceful.
WHY LP WAS EXCLUDED
Among the prominent parties out to prove a point ahead of the 2027 general election- APC, PDP, LP, ADC and SDP, – the LP and SDP faced legal hurdles until the latter managed to get into the race through a court order.
Due to the unresolved crisis in the Labour Party, LP, with two factions claiming leadership of the party, following their selective interpretation of the Supreme Court judgement of April12, 2025, which nullified the judgements of the two lower courts on the premise that they lacked the jurisdiction to dabble into the domestic affair of the LP by validating Abure’s claim to the national chairmanship position, INEC, had since withdrawn the earlier recognition of Julius Abure led National Working Committee, NWC, and rejected its candidate for the by-election.
The Social Democratic Party, SDC, narrowly, escaped the same fate on Friday, a day to the poll. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC had to include the candidates of the party in the Saturday by-election.
INEC, which had excluded the party from the race on the grounds that the SDP did not submit a valid notice for the conduct of primaries for the bye-elections, had to include its candidate on Friday in obedience to an order by the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, in Suit No.FHC/ABJ/CS/1525/2025 to include SDP in the election taking place in 12 states.
Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information & Voter Education Committee of INEC said the commission has decided to obey the order.
He said, “In compliance with the judgement, the names of the candidates submitted manually have been accepted and published on our website. The party will participate in the bye-elections.
“The Commission wishes to assure the public, especially voters in the 12 States, that the 11th-hour judgement will not affect the election which will proceed tomorrow Saturday 16th August 2025 as scheduled. Meanwhile, the Commission will exercise its legitimate right of appeal under the law”, the statement added.
The LP was unfortunate. A ruling reportedly obtained by the Abure-faction from the Nasarawa State High Court to compel INEC to grant the party access to its code for the uploading of the names and particulars of the faction’s nominated candidates for the by-election became a subject of renewed rivalry between the party’s factions.
While the Abure-led faction was celebrating the judgement, the Senator Usman Nenadi accused him of “forum shopping,” another euphemism for fraud. She maintained that the matter was within the competence of the Federal High Court and pointed out that the referenced judgement.
Ken Asogwa, Special Media Adviser to Nenadi, in its reaction to the ruling, said, “Even if in the unlikely event, this inconsequential order was genuinely obtained, Abure’s decision to engage in blatant forum shopping – running to a Nasarawa State High Court in a matter over which the Federal High Court has exclusive constitutional jurisdiction – underscores the depth of his legal and moral bankruptcy.
He further said that since INEC is a federal institution established by the Constitution, the High Court of Nasarawa State has no lawful standing in this matter.
“Such abuse of the judicial process ought to attract a stern reprimand from the court against the forum shoppers.” SDP escaped because its ruling was upheld by the Federal High Court.
In fact, on Friday, August 15, 2025 INEC officially withdrew recognition of Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), citing the expiration of his tenure and the binding judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on April 4, 2025.
According to the electoral umpire, a sworn counter affidavit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, has effectively settled the lingering leadership crisis in the LP.
Announcing a Suit with No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1523/2025, INEC clarified that Abure’s tenure ended in June 2024, in accordance with the ruling of the Supreme Court in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025, which dismissed Abure’s claims for lack of jurisdiction and nullified all earlier rulings that affirmed his leadership.
The counter affidavit, deposed to by Ayuba Mohammed, INEC’s Executive Officer (Litigation and Prosecution), stated: “The defendant (INEC) cannot accept and issue access codes for the upload of candidates’ nomination forms (EC9, EC9F, and EC9G) for the by-election scheduled for 16/8/2025 to the plaintiff (Abure-led LP), as there was no valid National Chairman and National Secretary for the defendant to deal with, as provided in Exhibit INEC 2.” At the contentious National Convention held in Nnewi on March 27, 2024, INEC maintained it did not monitor or recognise the event, noting that it contravened the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022, INEC’s regulations, and the Labour Party’s constitution.
PRE-ELECTION ALLEGATIONS AND POWER SHOW
A few days before the conduct of the poll, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, accused the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, of plotting its defeat as part of the general plan of suffocation.
Before the election, National Chairman, David Mark, who urged INEC to maintain impartiality and transparency in the bye-elections, the ADC fielded candidates in Senatorial, House of Representatives, and State Houses of Assembly bye-elections in 10 0f the 12 states, namely Anambra, Edo, Oyo, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano, Niger and Ogun States.
In Ogun State, where its leaders had embarked on serious pre-election campaign across the state, ADC State Chairman, Femi Soluade, claimed that though he wrote the police about its campaign plans and received an acknowledgement, the police still disrupted its campaign activities in Remo Federal Constituency; its canopies were removed, chairs broken, musical instruments seized and an armoured tank stationed to intimidate their candidate, leaders and supporters describing the development as “an aberration in our body politics” and “a display of anti-democratic tendencies”.
Soluade alleged that police operatives were being used to intimidate ADC members, particularly after the arrival of the party’s National Secretary, former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola. Its candidate for the Ikenne/Sagamu/Remo North Federal Constituency is Hon Barrister Oluwaseyi Solomon Osho.
Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola denied any complicity on the part of the police and said that in its bid to ensure a violence-free and fair election, the state police command collaborated with other security agencies, and additional manpower from Zone 2 Command, Lagos.
Former Kaduna governor, Nasir el-Rufai made similar allegations in the Northeast state alleging that the state government recruited 4000 thugs and bribed INEC officials to manipulate the result in its candidate’s favour.
The by-election held high stakes for some. In Oyo State, for instance where the incumbent governor is eying the Presidency on the platform of the PDP and the Minister of Power, Adebayo is already preparing to run for the governorship on the platform of APC, it was a show of power. The Minister came to the state with a compliment of the House of Assembly members, three APC Senators and 12 of 14 APC House of Representatives.
SECURITY
Ahead of the poll, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, on Friday ordered watertight security in the affected states to provide an enabling environment for free and fair elections.
Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Olumuyiwa Adejobi, explained that the Police boss had ordered the restriction of all forms of vehicular movement on roads, waterways and other means of transportation, from 12 a.m. to 6 p.m. on election day within the affected local government areas, with the exception of those on essential services, including INEC officials, accredited media and electoral observers, ambulances responding to medical emergencies, and firefighters.
The IGP also reiterated the ban on all security aides to VIPs and escorts from accompanying their principals and politicians to polling booths and collation centres during the election. State-established and state-owned security outfits, quasi-security units, and privately owned guards were also barred from participating in election security management.
