The All Progressives Congress (APC) has emerged victorious in all the 24 chairmanship seats and 240 councillorship positions contested in Saturday’s local government elections in Gombe State.

Chairman of the Gombe State Independent Electoral Commission (GOSIEC), Abdullahi Garba Talasse, who announced the results on Saturday in Gombe, declared that the ruling party won in all the local government councils and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) where elections were conducted.

Talasse described the successful conduct of elections in the newly created LCDAs as a milestone in the state’s democratic development, noting that Gombe had expanded from 11 local government councils with 114 councillors to 24 councils and LCDAs with 240 councillors.

He said the commission worked closely with the State House of Assembly to secure the legal backing required for elections to be held in the LCDAs.

“We did not struggle for the enabling law in vain. Today, we have successfully conducted elections across the 24 councils and LCDAs, which is a significant achievement for the state,” he said.

The GOSIEC chairman attributed the poor showing of opposition parties to their limited participation in the polls.

According to him, the African Congress (AC) fielded candidates in only three chairmanship contests, while the Democratic Liberation Alliance (DLA) contested in six councils.

He added that the Ne’ Nigeria People’s Movement (NRM), Youth Party (YP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) each sponsored candidates in three chairmanship elections.

For councillorship positions, Talasse said AC contested in eight wards, while DLA, NRM, YP and ZLP each fielded candidates in 11 wards.

“That explains why some parties recorded zero votes in several areas because they did not participate across all the councils and wards,” he said.

Talasse explained that although chairmanship results were declared at the various local government collation centres, the commission considered it necessary to present a statewide summary to journalists, observers and the public.

“From the results before the commission, APC has won all the 24 chairmanship seats and all the 240 councillorship positions,” he declared.

He commended political parties, election observers, civil society organisations, security agencies and other stakeholders for contributing to the peaceful conduct of the elections.

The GOSIEC chairman also appreciated party leaders, government officials, non-governmental organisations and other guests from across the country who monitored the exercise, describing their participation as crucial to the success of the electoral process. (Weekend Trust, excluding headline)

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