Kaduna Governor, 4 Others Show Strength in By-Elections, List Emerges

• The APC secured a majority of the seats in the by-elections conducted across 16 federal and state constituencies in 12 states, according to results announced so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
• The elections, held to replace lawmakers who died or resigned after the 2023 general elections, were marred by reports of vote buying, violence and irregularities
• As of Sunday morning, August 17, results show that the APC won 12 of the 16 seats across nine states; APGA secured two seats in Anambra, PDP won one seat in Oyo, and NNPP claimed one seat in Kano

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 9 years of experience covering politics, elections, and governance in Nigeria.

Kaduna, Kaduna state - It was delight in the camps of Governors Uba Sani (Kaduna), Charles Soludo (Anambra), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Monday Okpebholo (Edo state), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) as results of the by-elections in parts of the country went hugely in favour of the candidates they had spent much time campaigning for in the last few months.

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Result of Kaduna bye-elections emerges, breakdown of votes and winners announced

Legit.ng reports that on the contrary, the candidates of Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna state, and those of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in 2023, had an outing to forget.

Legit.ng highlights the governors that showed their strength in the polls on Saturday, August 16, 2025.

1) Kaduna: Sani makes it happen

The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Chikun/Kajuru federal constituency of Kaduna state, Joseph Bagudu, and that of Zaria/Kewaye state constituency, Mohammed Haruna, appeared to be cruising to victory at the close of voting.

Reports from the various polling centres showed that their votes overshadowed those of Adanu Alexander of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Dawaki Esther of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Chikun/Kajuru, as well as Isiyaku Kabir of ADC and Mamuda Abdullahi of PDP for Zaria/Kewaye.

Mallam El Rufai had rolled out his political machinery ahead of the by-election, crisscrossing the various wards to canvass support for the ADC candidates. But all that seemed to have counted for nothing as shown by the results from the fields.

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Setback for Peter Obi as INEC announces winners of Anambra by-elections

2) Okpebholo shows strength in by-election

Early returns from the polling booths showed that landslide victories awaited the APC senatorial candidate in Edo Central Joseph Ikpea and the party’s flagbearer in Ovia North East/Ovia South West federal constituency of the state, Omosede Igbinedion.

Omosede is the daughter of the Esama of Benin Kigdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion.

Omosede polled 450 votes while the PDP and ADC got one vote each at the end of voting there.

She had contested for the same seat in 2023 on the platform of PDP but lost to APC’s Dennis Idahosa who vacated the seat following his election as deputy governor last September.

Governor Okpebholo, an APC chieftain, voted at Ward 2, Unit 1, Udomi Primary School in Esan Central local government area.

3) Soludo displays vigor in Anambra

The candidates of Governor Soludo's party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), won the by-elections for the Anambra South Senatorial District and the Onitsha North constituency of the state house of assembly held on Saturday, August 16.

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Winner emerges in Kano re-run election as APC, NNPP lock horns

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the two results on Sunday, August 17, in Onitsha and Nnewi local governments, respectively.

4) Abiodun confirms supremacy over Adebutu in Remo

Governor Abiodun notched up one more victory over his close rival, PDP’s Ladi Adebutu, with the massive votes for the APC house of representatives candidate for Ikenne/Shagamu/Remo North, Adesola Elegbeji.

The APC had run away with a narrow victory against the PDP in the 2023 election in the constituency.

When a vacancy occurred in 2024 following the death of Adewunmi Onanuga, the PDP thought it was time to revenge only for the voters to decide otherwise.

Bolarinwa Oluwole, PDP candidate in the by-election accused the APC of deploying thugs to chase voters away from polling units in the constituency.

He said the thugs targeted strongholds of the PDP to cause violence. He claimed there was no by-election in Ogun.

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Oyo bye-election: APC candidate loses polling unit as ADC alleges vote buying

It was double embarrassment for the PDP in the state as the party was linked with an attempt to bribe its way to victory in the election.

5) PDP clears wards in Ibadan North

Governor Makinde steered the PDP to victory as the party defeated the APC in all 12 wards in Ibadan North federal constituency.

The bye-election, conducted to fill the vacant house of representatives seat in the constituency, held on Saturday, August 16.

The candidate of the APC, Wale Murphy, did not only lose the election, he also lost his polling unit.

Winner emerges in Kano re-run election

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the APC secured victory in the Ghari/Tsanyawa supplementary election held in Kano state.

Announcing the results, the returning officer (RO), Professor Muhammad Waziri from Bayero University, declared APC candidate Garba Gwarmai the winner with a total of 31,472 votes.

Source: Legit.ng