Ayade loses bid to return to Senate, as Jarigbe clinches seat

Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, has lost his bid to return to the Senate after losing the Cross River North Senatorial district seat to incumbent Sen. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Saturday’s National Assembly.

Senator Jarigbe polled a total of 76,145 to defeat Ayade, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who garnered 56, 595 votes in the poll.

The result declaring Sen. Jarigbe as the winner of the exercise was announced in the early hours of Monday by the returning officer, Dr. Emmanuel Emanghe, on behalf of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

READ ALSO:Cross River PDP tags Gov Ayade inhumane for going on with Calabar carnival despite tragedy

Ayade, who was in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, was making a bid to return to the Upper Chamber at the end of his two terms as governor of the state.

Jarigbe on the other hand, was a two-time member of the House of Representatives who was elected into the Senate through a bye-election following the death of the senator who represented the district, Dr Rose Okoh, in September 2021 .

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now