By CHARLES IWUOHA

Chief Ikeje Asogwa, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has emerged the winner of the June 20, 2026 Enugu North Senatorial District by-election.

Asogwa polled 162,360 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Nestor Ezeme of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 9,299 votes.

The by-election was conducted to replace late Senator Okey Ezea, who was representing the district at the time he died on November 18, 2025, at the age of 62.

Announcing the result on Sunday in Nsukka, the Returning Officer of the election, Prof Christian Ezeibe, the Dean, Department of Students Affairs at University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, said Asogwa scored the highest votes in the election to emerge the winner.

“Asogwa having satisfied the requirements of the law in this election is hereby declared the winner and is returned.

“I thank you all for your cooperation, support and maturity that made the by-election a success,” he said.

According to Ezeibe, the number of registered voters in Enugu North Senatorial District was 727, 340 while 184,094 were accredited in the election.

A breakdown of the result scored by five other candidates showed that Chika Idoko Emmanuel of the African Democratic Party, ADC, polled 1,676 votes while Kingsley Aneke of Boot Party, BP, got 1607 votes.

Other candidates are Ejike Simon Eze of Labour Party, LP, 1,027 votes, OssElias Okwudiri Ossai of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, 3,129 votes and Charles Ugochukwu of the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, 667 votes.

In his acceptance speech, Asogwa, the senator elect, said the outcome reflected the overwhelming support of the residents of the six local government areas that made up the Enugu North Senatorial Zone.

He promised to give the senatorial zone quality and effective representation to justify the massive support and confidence residents had expressed through their votes.

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