Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River State, lost his bid to be re-elected to the Senate after being defeated by Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, the sitting senator for Cross River North.
With 76,145 votes, Agom-Jarigbe won the National Assembly election held on Saturday. 56,595 people chose Ayade.
Results were revealed on February 27 by the returning officer, Emmanuel Emanghe.
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Following the passing of the previous senator Rose Okoh in September 2021, Agom-Jarigbe, a two-term member of the House of Representatives, was elected to the Senate in a bye-election.
Agom-Jarigbe, who represented Cross River North in the Senate from 2011 to 2015, sought to be replaced by Ayade.
However, there was an issue with the declaration form, which prevented Agom-Jarigbe from being officially declared as the winner. Upon demand for the declaration form, he was told that it was mistakenly taken to Obudu by the electoral body in the state.
In spite of the fact that the form was inadvertently delivered to Obudu, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Gabriel Yomere, said Agom-Jarigbe could be given a temporary declaration form until the original one arrived.
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Jude Ngaji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the incumbent representative for the Ogoji/Yala Federal Constituency, was defeated by Godwin Offiono of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by 36,651 votes. The verdict was given by Wakasor Ofem.
Cross River State, a historically stronghold for the party, was still under the PDP’s control.
