The All Progressives Congress has swept by-elections across Nasarawa, Enugu, Kano, and Ondo states, while the Peoples Democratic Party successfully defended its stronghold in Rivers State, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared on Sunday.
The by-elections, held across multiple constituencies to fill vacant legislative seats, tested the political temperature of both parties ahead of the 2027 general election cycle. APC’s clean sweep of four states in one outing is a significant boost for the ruling party.
In Nasarawa State, the APC candidate won the House of Representatives seat that had been vacant following the death of the incumbent. The margin of victory, according to the returning officer, was decisive. Figures from the final collation were not immediately made available by INEC officials at the state level.
The Enugu result was the most surprising of the night. APC has historically struggled in the South-East, a zone dominated by PDP. The win signals a crack in opposition control of the region and hands President Bola Tinubu’s administration has a political foothold it did not previously hold in that state.
In Kano, APC reclaimed a state constituency seat in what party officials described as a vote of confidence in the administration. The result ends a brief period of opposition control in that particular constituency following defections that had weakened APC’s grip on the state.
Ondo State added another win to the APC column, with the party’s candidate declared winner in a House of Assembly by-election. The outcome consolidates APC’s dominance in the South-West ahead of governorship and federal contests expected in 2027.
PDP, for its part, was not shut out entirely. The party held its ground in Rivers State, retaining a constituency seat in a fiercely contested poll. PDP’s win in Rivers comes against a backdrop of the ongoing political crisis in the state, where Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike have been locked in a protracted power struggle.
A PDP spokesperson, speaking to journalists after the Rivers result was announced, said the win proved the party retained grassroots support in the state. The spokesperson did not address the losses in other states.
APC’s national publicity secretary described the combined result as a clear endorsement of President Tinubu‘s Renewed Hope Agenda. He said the wins across multiple geopolitical zones showed the party was building a national coalition that cut across regional boundaries.
INEC officials noted that voter turnout across all constituencies was low, a pattern consistent with by-elections in Nigeria. No specific turnout figures were released at the time of filing this report.
Security agencies deployed personnel across all five states. There were no reports of major violence during voting, though isolated incidents of ballot snatching were reported by election observers in one of the Kano polling units. Police confirmed they made arrests in connection with that incident.
The results will be formally gazetted by INEC within the legally stipulated timeframe. Losing candidates have the right to approach the election tribunals if they wish to contest the outcomes.
For APC, Saturday’s results strengthen its legislative numbers at both the federal and state levels. For PDP, the Rivers win offers limited consolation after a difficult outing in states it had hoped to contest more competitively.
Attention is now focused on potential post-election litigation and what the results mean for party positioning ahead of the 2027 elections.
