Dare Babalola
Former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, and former Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, have emerged winners of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primaries in Kogi Central and Delta North respectively.
In Kogi Central, Bello secured a landslide victory after polling 72,399 votes in the APC primary election held on Monday.
The Collation Officer for the exercise, Sadiq Muhammed, announced the result at the APC Secretariat in Okene, declaring Bello winner of the contest.
According to the results, Bello defeated Ibrahim Yakubu Adoke, who scored 319 votes, and Momoh Yusuf Obaro, who secured 198 votes.
Muhammed said the primary election was conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner in line with the party’s guidelines.
In his acceptance speech, Bello thanked party delegates and supporters across Kogi Central for the confidence reposed in him, pledging effective representation if elected into the Senate.
The former governor also praised President Bola Tinubu for efforts at repositioning the economy and supporting sub-national governments, particularly the administration of Governor Usman Ododo in Kogi State.
He urged other aspirants and party stakeholders to unite behind his candidacy ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Meanwhile, former Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, defeated Senator Ned Nwoko, the estranged husband of Actress Regina Daniels, to clinch the APC Delta North Senatorial ticket.
The result, posted on Facebook on Monday by Ossai Ovie Success, an aide to the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, showed that Okowa polled 113,309 votes to defeat Nwoko, who secured 2,612 votes, while Maryam Alli got 40 votes.
The post described the outcome as the final result of the APC Delta North Senatorial direct primaries.
