Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has lost his bid to return to the Senate after being defeated by the incumbent senator representing Cross River North, Sen. Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe. Ayade, who previously served in the Senate from 2011 to 2015, participated in the National Assembly elections held on Saturday but received only 56,595 votes. In contrast, Agom-Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) garnered 76,145 votes. The results were announced by the returning officer, Dr. Emmanuel Emanghe, on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission around 3:05 a.m. on Monday.
Agom-Jarigbe, a two-time member of the House of Representatives, was elected to the Senate through a bye-election in September 2021 following the death of Dr. Rose Okoh. Ayade, who is currently completing his two terms as Governor of Cross River State, sought to replace Agom-Jarigbe as the senator for the Northern senatorial district. However, after the declaration of results, Agom-Jarigbe was unable to receive the Declaration Form due to a mix-up; it was mistakenly taken to Obudu by the electoral body. The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Gabriel Yomere, stated that while the original form was misplaced, Agom-Jarigbe could be issued a temporary one until the original is retrieved.
In another election result, Godwin Offiono of the PDP was declared the winner for the Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency. Offiono defeated the incumbent lawmaker, Mr. Jude Ngaji of the All Progressives Congress, with a total of 36,651 votes against Ngaji’s 32,973 votes. The results for the Ogoja/Yala Federal constituency were announced by Dr. Wakasor Ofem.
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