February 04, (THEWILL) – The Senator representing Cross River North in the National Assembly, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have maintained their grip on the Northern Senatorial District of the state.
This follows results from the just concluded bye-elections in the two-state Constituency seats in the senatorial district.
The duo scored yet another political victory as the PDP won all the re-run elections in Obanliku and Yala II state constituencies in the Northern part of the State.
The victory came at the expense of big political stakeholders in the area, including the Deputy Governor, Peter Odey; State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alphonsus Eba, and the immediate past governor of the State, Ben Ayade, among others.
Senator Jarigbe, a political leader in the Northern Senatorial District of the State, had earlier led the PDP to a massive victory in the National and State Houses of Assembly elections held on February 25 and March 18, 2023, respectively.
His party clinched the senatorial ticket, two House of Representatives seats and four State House of Assembly seats in the north senatorial zone.
However, his main challenger and then governor of the State, Ben Ayade of the APC, challenged the victories at the election Tribunal up to the Court of Appeal (Lagos Division).
The justices found no merit in the petition against Senator Jarigbe’s election. The justices also upheld the election of the two candidates of the party who were elected into the House of Representatives.
The PDP, however, lost the Ogoja state assembly seat it won on the field while the Appeal Court ordered a re-run in Obanliku and Yala II state constituencies.
In the bye-elections which took place on Saturday, February 3, 2024, Jarigbe and his team demonstrated their popularity on the field by emerging victorious at the polls as PDP clinched back their mandates in Obanliku and Yala II state constituencies.
At the Obanliku re-run, Ashakia Pius (PDP) polled 275 votes in the two polling units to take his total tally to 10,587 votes while Sunday Achunekang (APC), who had challenged Ashakia’s election in 2023, scored 243 votes to take his total tally to 10,427 votes.
Ashakia was declared the winner by the returning officer, Dr. Blessing Anyalebechi.
At the Yala II re-run, Dr. Martins Achadu of the PDP was declared the winner by the returning officer, Mrs. Dorathy Inyang, after scoring 9,168 votes to defeat Mrs. Cynthia Nkassi of APC, who polled 8,647 votes.
Reacting to his party’s victory in the Northern Senatorial District, Senator Jarigbe thanked his constituents for once again demonstrating their confidence in him and the party’s candidates.
He tasked the winners to imbibe the culture of working together for the benefit of the people and promised to always meet their needs within available resources.
“We have once again shown that PDP remains the dominant party in my senatorial zone just as the people have demonstrated their confidence in us by voting for our candidates at the re-run polls, an indication that we are on ground.
“I enjoin the winners to always imbibe the culture of working together for the benefit of our people who have freely given us their mandates in trust as well as continue to fulfil electoral promises to our constituents.
“Once again, I commend the people of the north for always standing with us in times like this. We shall not disappoint but will always endeavour to meet your needs within the available limited resources,” he said.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
