Members-elect of the Sokoto State House of Assembly who were elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress were on Thursday conspicuously absent during the presentation of certificates of return in Sokoto.
The Independent National Electoral Commission presented the certificates to the state governor, Aminu Tambuwal; his deputy, Dan’Iya Manir, and the lawmakers-elect.
The APC won 16 out of the 30 seats in the state House of Assembly while the Peoples Democratic Party won 14.
The absence of the APC lawmakers-elect, our correspondent gathered, might not be unconnected to the claim by the party’s chairman, Isa Achida, that PDP supporters attacked APC members in the state.
Presenting the certificates, INEC’s Commissioner in charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states, Amina Zakari, pleaded with politicians to be gallant in defeat and magnanimous in victory.
“If you don’t win today, there is hope that you can win tomorrow,” she said.
The state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq, said he had fulfilled the promise he made that he would conduct free and fair elections in the state.
Tambuwal thanked the people of the state for the confidence reposed in his administration by giving him a fresh mandate.