APM Wins All 20 Chairmanship Seats as Four Opposition Parties Secure Councillorship Positions in Bauchi LG Election

 The Allied Peoples Movement has recorded a sweeping victory in Bauchi State's local government elections, winning all 20 chairmanship seats contested across the state, while its candidates also secured 319 of the 323 councillorship positions up for grabs. The results were officially announced on Monday night by the Chairperson of the Bauchi State Independent Electoral Commission, Hajiya Jummai S. Abubakar, following the completion of voting, counting, collation, and verification across all local government areas.

Declaring the results, Abubakar stated that all 20 APM candidates had emerged victorious as chairmen of their respective local government areas, having satisfied the applicable legal requirements and recorded the highest number of valid votes cast in their constituencies. Among the notable winners was Bappah Aliyu Mohammed, who secured Alkaleri Local Government Area with 107,482 votes, and Umar Mohammed Aliyu, who won Bauchi Local Government Area with 125,170 votes.

One of the more politically significant victories came in Shira Local Government Area, where Saleh Hodi Jibir, the former Majority Leader of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, polled 37,135 votes to claim the chairmanship seat. Hodi had resigned his position as a state lawmaker representing Disina Constituency just days before the election specifically to contest the Shira chairmanship race under the APM banner, a move that underscored the level of political weight and internal party confidence behind his candidacy. Following his resignation, the Assembly promptly nominated Auwal Hassan Yana as the new Majority Leader, ensuring continuity in legislative leadership even as Hodi transitioned into local government politics.

Elsewhere across the state, Sama'ila Wakili Lere won the Tafawa Balewa chairmanship with 46,625 votes, while Abubakar Ibrahim Dembo secured victory in Toro Local Government Area with a commanding 109,999 votes, one of the higher vote tallies recorded in the election. Habibu Idris Usman claimed Warji with 43,066 votes, and Mas'ud Aliyu emerged victorious in Zaki Local Government Area with 19,984 votes.

On the councillorship front, while APM's dominance was overwhelming, four seats went to other political parties. The Social Democratic Party won the Dandango Ward seat in Bauchi Local Government Area, the National Rescue Movement secured Darazo South Ward in Darazo Local Government Area, the Zenith Labour Party claimed Wandi Ward in Dass Local Government Area, and the Young Progressives Party won Zirami Ward in Giade Local Government Area, giving four smaller parties a modest but notable presence in the incoming councils.

The election took place amid a boycott by the Coalition of Opposition Parties in Bauchi State, which had withdrawn from the process a day earlier, alleging that the electoral process favored the ruling APM. However, the scale of that boycott appears more limited than initially suggested. According to the Inter-party Advisory Council's Bauchi State chapter, only six out of the 22 political parties registered in the state opted to boycott the election, while sixteen parties, representing the clear majority, went ahead and participated in the contest. IPAC's state chairman noted that each political party retained the right to independently decide whether to participate, while also commending BASIEC for ensuring due process was followed throughout the exercise.

Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, cast his vote alongside his wife in Duguri and described the election as peaceful, maintaining that the opposition boycott did not undermine the legitimacy of the overall process. To encourage strong voter turnout, the state government had declared Monday a work-free day, giving residents and civil servants the opportunity to participate in the local government polls without work-related obstacles.

The scale of APM's victory in Bauchi mirrors a broader pattern seen in Nigerian local government elections, where the party controlling the state government, and by extension the state electoral commission, often secures overwhelming or near-total victories in council polls. Notably, the same 20 chairmanship seats had previously been swept entirely by the Peoples Democratic Party in an earlier local government election cycle, illustrating how dominant the ruling party in Bauchi State tends to be in these particular contests regardless of which party holds power at any given time.

As the newly elected chairmen and councillors prepare to be sworn into office, attention will now turn to how effectively they deliver on campaign promises at the grassroots level, particularly in a state where local government administration plays a significant role in the day-to-day welfare of residents across both urban and rural communities.

Gist source: GistCity News — follow them on YouTube/Instagram/TikTok @gistcitynews