By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) – Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress has been declared winners in three major parliamentary by-elections held at the weekend amid suggestions the ballots were a referendum on the standing of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The APC candidates in two senatorial polls in Buhari’s home Katsina and northeast Bauchi states were on Sunday declared victorious, beating their opponents from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by wide margins.
The APC’s candidate has also been declared winner in the House of Representatives by-election in north-central Kogi State.
The weekend by-elections followed the death of the federal lawmakers — two senators and a House of Representatives member — representing the districts in the country's bicameral legislature.
Observers claimed the polls saw a pocket of vote-buying and other unlawful conducts.
The APC has recently lost over 50 federal parliamentarians in a gale of defections that followed internal power tussles ahead of next year's poll.
