Gbajabiamila Re-elected As House Deputy Majority, Minority Whips Lose To Labour Party

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has been re-elected for the sixth consecutive term in the just-concluded 2023 general elections.

According to the official result declared by INEC returning officer, Prof. Virgy Onyene, at the Surulere local government office of INEC on Sunday, Gbajabiamila of the APC won with a wide margin of 19,717 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bosun Jeje of the PDP, who scored 5,121 votes.

Also, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, has won the election for the seat of Bende Federal Constituency in Abia State.

The All Progressives Congress member was reelected for a second term.

According to the results declared by the Returning Officer, Adindu Chidinma, APC polled 10,020 votes in the constituency, beating the Labour Party candidate with 6,818; Peoples Democratic Party, 3,930; and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, with 301 votes.

Reacting to his reelection in a message sent to journalists, Kalu partly said, “This is a moment of happiness. This victory is sweet because it came with a lot of hard work and confrontation between those outside and some forces within the party. But in all of these, God has seen the sincerity of our hearts to serve the people of Bende with transparency, honesty, in the spirit of accountability and His name has been glorified.”

Similarly, the lawmaker representing Ede-North/Ede-South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun State, Bamidele Salam, has won his reelection bid. He is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party as well as the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs.

The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Dr Muritala Monsuru, of the Department of History, University of Ibadan, who declared the results for the constituency, said Salam polled 64,236 votes to defeat his All Progressives Congress opponent, Akeem Atanda, who scored 35,444 votes.

A breakdown of the result showed that Salam beat Atanda in all the four Local Government Areas making up the federal constituency with a margin of 28,792 votes.

In his reaction, Salam expressed gratitude to Almighty God, Governor Ademola Adeleke, the Adeleke political dynasty and his constituents for the renewed trust and confidence reposed in him through his re-election.

The lawmaker assured the people of his readiness to rededicate himself to the cause of his engagement as a lawmaker and representative of the people of the constituency

On the contrary, the deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives, Nkirukah Onyejeocha, and the deputy minority whip, Gideon Gwani, have lost their reelection bids to candidates of the Labour Party in their respective constituencies in Abia and Kaduna States respectively.

Onyejeocha, who represents Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State lost to Ogah Amobi Godwin of the Labour Party. Returning officer for the constituency, Barrister Nnoma Nnochiri, declared that Onyejeicha scored the total votes of 8,752 while Ogah scored 11,769.

In the same vein, Mr Donatus Mathew of the Labour Party has won the Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna State. Donatus defeated the minority whip of the House of Representatives, Hon Gideon Gwani.

The Returning Officer, Prof. Elijah Ella, who declared the results in Kaura on Sunday, said Mathew polled 10,508 votes while Gwani scored a total of 10, 297 votes.