PDP’s Olaka Nwogu wins Rivers South-East senatorial by-election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Olaka Nwogu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District by-election.

 

Announcing the result on Saturday at the senatorial collation centre in Bori, the Returning Officer, Prof. Rosemary Ogu, said Nwogu polled 47,961 votes to defeat his closest rival, Osarokaka Ebenezer Erewari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who secured 1,647 votes.

 

According to the results, Douglas Fabeke of the Action Alliance (AA) received 1,175 votes, while Sam Kinani of the Labour Party (LP) polled 367 votes.

 

The by-election was conducted to fill the vacant Senate seat following the death of Senator Barry Mpigi in February 2026.

 

The election covered the seven local government areas of Khana, Gokana, Tai, Eleme, Andoni, Oyigbo and Opobo/Nkoro.

 

Following the declaration, Nwogu, an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, was returned elected after satisfying the requirements of the law.

 

Meanwhile, INEC said it had deployed backup Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines to address technical glitches experienced in some polling units.

 

The commission’s Head of Voter Education in Rivers State, Geraldine Ekelemo, said technical teams were on standby across the seven local government areas to replace malfunctioning devices and ensure the smooth conduct of the election.

 

However, the Action Alliance candidate, Douglas Fabeke, rejected the outcome of the poll, alleging electoral irregularities, vote buying and compromise by INEC officials.

 

Fabeke called for the cancellation of the election, insisting his party would challenge the process with evidence of the alleged infractions.