Two governorship election results were declared in the early hours of yesterday, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning in Taraba and Zamfara states.
Lt. Col. Agbu Kefas (rtd) was declared the winner in Taraba with 257,926 votes.
Prof Sani Yahaya of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) scored 202,277; Emmanuel Bwacha of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 142,502.
The State Returning Officer, Prof Muhammed Abdulaziz, declared Kefas winner at about midnight.
The PDP won in 11 Local Government Areas: Zing, Lau, Ardo Kola, Yorro, Bali, Wukari, Karim Lamido, Kurmi, Sardauna, Gashaka and Takum.
The NNPP won in Jalingo, Ibi and Gassol; the APC won in Ussa and Donga.
Eighteen candidates contested the election.
Kefas was received by Governor Darius Ishaku following the declaration.
The governor-elect said: “I am very happy today for this victory. I believe that I am going to build on that victory and even do more.
“I am going to fulfil all the promises I made because we want PDP to continue in Taraba.
“The people should continue to trust us and wait patiently for the new Taraba that they have all been waiting for,” he said.
His opponent, Senator Bwacha, who called the governor-elect to congratulate him, asked his supporters and party members to accept the result.
In a statement by the Director, Media and Publicity of his campaign council, Aaron Artimas, the APC candidate said the party’s State Executive Committee accepted the result in the interest of peace.
According to him, the state was in dire need of peace and unity “at this critical period of political experience”.
Zamfara
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the PDP candidate, Dr Dauda Lawal, as the winner of the governorship election in Zamfara.
Lawal defeated the incumbent governor, Bello Matawalle, in what may be described as a huge upset.
The returning officer, Prof Kashim Shehu, said Lawal polled 377,726 votes to defeat Matwalle of the APC, who scored 311,976 votes.
National Rescue Movement (NRM) candidate, Aliyu Dansadau, scored 2,416 votes while Ahmed Yahuza of the Labour Party (LP) got 573.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) withdrew from the race.
Zamfara has 14 LGAs, of which Lawal won 10; Matawalle won four.
Born on September 2, 1965, in Gusau, the state capital, the governor-elect graduated from Ahmadu Bello University in 1987 with B.Sc. in Political Science.
He obtained an M.Sc. in Political Science/International Relations from the same university in 1992 and a PhD in Business Administration from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.
He attended the London School of Economics, Harvard Business School, Oxford University Business School and Lagos Business School, among others.
He began his working career in 1989 as a political education officer with the Agency for Mass Mobilization for Social and Economic Reliance Nigeria.
In 1989, he joined Westex Nigeria Limited as an Assistant General Manager.
In 1994 he was appointed as an Assistant Consular Officer (Immigration), and later Chief Protocol Officer, Embassy of Nigeria, Washington, D.C., US.
Lawal joined First Bank of Nigeria Plc in May 2003 as Relationship Manager and rose to become Executive Director, Public Sector, North.