There was jubilation on Sunday as the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Shuaibu Liman Iya, was on Sunday declared the winner of the Niger State House of Assembly rerun election for Suleja Local Government Area.
The All Progressives Congress did not take part in the election based on its disqualification by the Independent National Electoral Commission following a court judgment.
Iya polled 9,036 votes to beat his closest challenger, Salihu Kalanah of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, who polled 6,230 votes.
The Action Alliance candidate scored 27 votes in the election, while the Social Democratic Party recorded 41 votes.
Suleja town went agog after the announcement of the result as PDP supporters chanted party slogans and sang victory songs around the town.
The victory of the PDP in the rerun election was in spite of the working alliance between the APC and the APGA, which failed to produce the expected victory.
“This is what we call election, not the local government election you people held,” Tanko Beji, the PDP state Deputy Chairman, said in reaction to the result.
Beji said the victory of the party has gone to show that the people of the state have seen through the lies of the ruling APC and are now prepared to return to the party that they can trust.
The leadership of the APC in the local government area and the state claimed they are still studying the result and would react at the appropriate time.
