“I will work with the other aspirants and party stakeholders, and we will create the Bayelsa we all yearn for. We will make every Bayelsa person proud of our state.”
Collins Owhonda, the All Progressives Congress candidate in Rivers, withdrew from the race 24 hours before the election and announced his defection to the PDP.
Mr Bilbis polled 102,866 votes to defeat Mr Marafa who polled 91,216 votes.
But Mr Fashola, a former Lagos governor, said Sunday night that people must learn to accept the new reality of divisive politics.
With the results, the APC currently has two Senate and eight House of Representatives seats, while the PDP has one Senate and three House of Representatives seats in the state.
Professor Luka Juma, the INEC Returning Officer declared the result in Jalingo on Sunday.
Ahmed Makarfi, the chairman of the Kogi Governorship Primary Committee, announced that Mr Melaye polled 317 votes to defeat his closest challenger Kingsley Idoko who scored 201 votes.
The commission stated this in its reply to a petition marked: CA/PEPC/01/2023 filed by AA and Solomon-David Okanigbuan, the first and second petitioners, respectively.
The final result was announced at the INEC headquarters in Birnin Kebbi by the Returning Officer, Yusuf Sa’idu of the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto.
