Governor Ben Ayade has lost his bid to return to the Senate following his defeat by the incumbent senator representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe.
Mr 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’s of the PDP who scored 76,145 votes.
The returning officer, Emmanuel Emanghe, who spoke on behalf of INEC, announced the result for the polls around 3:05 a.m. on Monday.
National Daily reports that Mr 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 Rose Okoh.
Mr Ayade, who is serving out his two-term as governor of the state, sought to replace Mr Agom-Jarigbe as the Senator representing Northern senatorial district of Cross River.