Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, has lost his bid to return to the Senate following his defeat by the incumbent senator representing Cross River North, Sen. Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe.

Ayade, who was in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, lost the National Assembly elections conducted on Saturday with 56,595 votes against Agom-Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 76,145 votes.

The returning officer, Dr Emmanuel Emanghe, announced the result of the polls at about 3:05 a.m. on Monday.

Agom-Jarigbe, a two-time member of the House of Representatives, was elected into the Senate through a bye-election in September 2021 following the death of Dr Rose Okoh.

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Similarly, Ayade, who is serving out his two-term as governor of the state, sought to replace Agom-Jarigbe as the senator representing Cross River North Senatorial District.

However, the re-elected senator could not be issued with the Declaration Form after his declaration by the retuning officer.

Upon demand for the Declaration Form, Agom-Jarigbe was told that it was mistakenly taken to Obudu by the electoral body in the state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Gabriel Yomere, who spoke on phone said: “The form was mistakenly taken to Obudu but he can be issued with a temporary one pending when the original one will be brought.”

Meanwhile, Godwin Offiono of the PDP was returned elected for the Ogoji/Yala Federal Constituency election.

Offiono defeated the incumbent lawmaker representing the area, Jude Ngaji, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by 36,651 votes to 32,973 votes.

The Ogoja/Yala Federal constituency result was announced by Dr Wakasor Ofem.

The Star