How by-elections were won and lost in Gombe, Bauchi and Kano states

The All Progressives Congress (APC) secured four of the five legislative seats contested in Saturday’s bye-elections across Gombe, Kano, Bauchi and Delta states, while the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) claimed the remaining seat in Bauchi state.

The elections, conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on September 19, 2026, comprised one House of Representatives constituency and four State House of Assembly constituencies.

The results gave the APC victories in the Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency of Gombe State, Dawakin Kudu State Constituency in Kano, Disina State Constituency in Bauchi and Udu State Constituency in Delta. Blueprint reports

The APM, however, upset the APC in the Sakwa State Constituency of Bauchi State, securing the seat with a significant margin.

Gombe

In Gombe state, APC candidate Usman Maijama’a Kallamu won the Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye Federal Constituency bye-election with 41,121 votes.

He defeated the Labour Party candidate, who polled 3,553 votes, while the Allied Peoples Movement secured 872 votes and the New Nigeria Democratic Party recorded 707 votes.

The result represented a wide margin in favour of the ruling party, which secured more than 41,000 votes across the constituency.

According to the declared results, 47,301 votes were cast, with 46,551 declared valid and 750 rejected.

The election was conducted across 903 polling units in 31 Registration Areas covering Gombe, Kwami and Funakaye local government areas.

Kallamu emerged from the contest to fill the federal legislative seat left vacant following the death of former representative Yaya Bauchi Tongo.

Kano

In Kano state, APC candidate Hussaini Yusuf-Datti won the Dawakin Kudu State Constituency bye-election with 22,890 votes.

His closest challenger, Habib Hamisu of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), secured only 270 votes, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate polled 108 votes.

Other candidates included the Action Democratic Party with 89 votes, the All Peoples Party with 53 and the Labour Party with 39 votes.

The result gave the APC a commanding victory in the constituency, with Yusuf-Datti winning by a margin of 22,620 votes over the PRP candidate.

The returning officer, Ibrahim Tajo-Suraj, declared the APC candidate winner after the collation of results, saying he had satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes.

The election became necessary after the former occupant of the State Assembly seat, Shuaibu Rabiu Nagoggo, popularly known as Abba Gano, moved to the House of Representatives following his election to represent the Dawakin Kudu/Warawa Federal Constituency.

Bauchi

Bauchi presented a different picture, with the two State Assembly bye-elections producing victories for two different parties.

In Disina State Constituency, the APC candidate, Yakubu Ali, emerged victorious after polling 5,846 votes.

The APM candidate came a close second with 5,225 votes, while the Peoples Redemption Party secured 3,701 votes.

The APC therefore won the Disina contest by 621 votes over the APM.

However, the party could not repeat that performance in Sakwa State Constituency in Zaki Local Government Area.

There, APM candidate Adamu Yakubu emerged winner after polling 8,515 votes.

The APC came second with 3,771 votes, followed by the PDP with 2,076 votes and the PRP with 727 votes.

The APM therefore won Sakwa by a margin of 4,744 votes over the APC, giving the party its only victory among the five bye-elections conducted across the four states.

The two Bauchi constituencies had been scheduled for the same day, with Disina covering 95 polling units and Sakwa comprising 100 polling units.

The outcome in Sakwa was particularly notable because the APM had received the backing of Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed during its campaign. The governor had urged voters in the constituency to support the party’s candidate, arguing that such support would promote continuity in the state’s development efforts.

Delta

In Delta state, APC candidate Okolosi Ator won the Udu State Constituency bye-election with 8,724 votes.

His closest challenger, the PDP candidate, polled 214 votes.

The result gave the APC a margin of 8,510 votes over the PDP in the constituency.

Ator was declared elected after the collation of results at Otu Jeremi, the headquarters of Udu Local Government Area.

The Delta contest was, however, among the polls where technical challenges were reported during the exercise, including issues associated with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

What the results show

Overall, the five bye-elections produced a clear numerical advantage for the APC, which captured four seats across three of the four states involved.

The ruling party’s victories were recorded in Gombe, Kano, Disina in Bauchi and Udu in Delta, while APM’s victory in Sakwa prevented a clean sweep.

The results also showed considerable differences in the strength of the contests.

In Gombe and Kano, the APC won by particularly wide margins, while the Disina contest in Bauchi was considerably closer, with only 621 votes separating the APC and APM candidates.

Sakwa produced the biggest upset of the five contests, with the APM candidate defeating the APC by 4,744 votes.

INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, said the bye-elections would provide important operational lessons for the commission as it prepares for the 2027 general elections.

Amupitan, who monitored the polls from INEC’s National Situation Room in Abuja, described the elections as important tests of the commission’s electoral systems and processes ahead of next year’s nationwide elections.

The commission conducted the five elections across one federal constituency and four State Assembly constituencies, making the exercise one of the significant electoral tests before the 2027 general elections.

While the APC emerged with the largest share of the seats, the APM’s victory in Sakwa demonstrated that the ruling party could still face competitive contests at the constituency level.

The results have therefore provided the parties, INEC and other stakeholders with an early indication of the political dynamics in the affected areas as preparations intensify for the 2027 elections.