The All Progressives Congress (APC) has emerged victorious in the December 13 local government elections in Borno State, winning all 27 chairmanship and councillorship seats across the state.
The results were officially announced on Monday in Maiduguri by the Chairman of the Borno State Independent Electoral Commission (BOSIEC), Alhaji Tahiru Shettima, during a news conference.
Shettima said the commission provided a level playing field for all political parties interested in participating in the council polls, stressing that BOSIEC did not place any obstacles in the way of contestants.
According to him, despite a series of meetings and engagements with stakeholders ahead of the election, only six political parties eventually took part in the exercise.
“I think the commission has done its best, and the election was free, fair, inclusive and transparent,” the BOSIEC chairman said.
He explained that the results announced by the commission were based on submissions from returning and electoral officers deployed across the 27 local government areas, adding that all officials were persons of high integrity drawn from academic and technocratic backgrounds.
“So, BOSIEC headquarters collected the results as submitted by the returning officers and electoral officers. We have aggregated everything for the 27 local government areas, and our task this evening is to announce the list of chairmen-elect,” he stated.
Shettima described the exercise as successfully concluded and keenly contested, urging the elected chairmen to remain focused on delivering dividends of democracy and providing social amenities at the grassroots level.
He also noted that voter turnout reflected the relevance of local government administration to the people, saying communities showed interest in political participation at the grassroots.
The BOSIEC chairman commended the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies for their support in ensuring the peaceful and smooth conduct of the elections.
The polls were contested by six political parties, including the APC, New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Labour Party (LP) and People’s Redemption Party (PRP).
