Days after the supplementary election in Zamfara State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Zamfara Central senatorial zone, Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa, said he would not be challenging the outcome of the polls in court.
OsunDaily News reports that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, emerged as the winner of the Saturday, April 15 polls.
Bilbis’s victory was confirmed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer, Prof. Kabiru Abdullahi, of the Federal University, Gusau.
While announcing the results, Abdullahi said Bilbis scored the highest number of votes, satisfied the law requirement, and was returned elected.
According to the electoral umpire, Bilbis won 102,866 votes to defeat his closest opponent in the APC, Marafa, who scored 91,216 votes.
Reacting to the poll’s outcome, Marafa on Monday said he had accepted his defeat by the PDP candidate.
Speaking during a statewide broadcast yesterday, Marafa commended the people of Zamfara Central senatorial zone for the opportunity afforded him to represent them between 2011 and 2019, wishing them well.
He further thanked all stakeholders and his supporters for standing firm for him and for giving him the courage to participate in the election, pointing out that he has learnt a lot in the new political dimension of the state.
The former senator, however, thanked Governor Bello Matawalle for standing by him to ensure that he contested the senatorial election for the third time.
He also thanked the party for its steadfast support of his senatorial candidature. Marafa thanked the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the Presidential Campaign Council of the APC for allowing him to lead the Tinubu campaign council in Zamfara State.
He stressed that the victory recorded by the APC during the Presidential election in Zamfara State was enough to demonstrate the power of the APC in Zamfara.
Marafa promised that he would never approach the court to challenge the result of the 2023 senatorial election, saying that the action would distract the senator-elect from doing his job, which he said would eventually affect the senatorial zone.
