Governor Ben Ayade has lost his bid to return to the Senate following his defeat by the incumbent senator representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe.
Mr Ayade, who was in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, lost the National Assembly elections conducted on Saturday with 56,595 votes against Agom-Jarigbe’s of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 76,145 votes.
The returning officer, Emmanuel Emanghe, who spoke on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced the result for the polls around 3:05 a.m. on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Agom-Jarigbe, a two-time member of the House of Representatives, was elected into the Senate through a bye-election in September 2021 following the d£@th of Rose Okoh.
Mr Ayade, who is serving out his two-term as governor of the state, sought to
replace Mr Agom-Jarigbe as the Senator representing Northern senatorial district of Cross River. However, the re-elected senator could not be issued the declaration form after his declaration by the retuning officer.
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