No woman governor for Nigeria yet as APC’s 'Mama Taraba' is defeated

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect fresh reports. Read it here.

Expectations by Nigerians that Saturday’s election would yield the first female governor in Nigeria’s history has been dashed.

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Taraba, Aisha Al-Hassan, who put up a strong showing in the race and who was thought to have won as collation continued into the second day, has now been defeated.

At the end of collation of votes from all 16 local government areas in the state, Ms. Al-hasan polled 262, 381 votes to emerge runner-up in a keenly contested election.

The candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Darius Ishaku, polled 326, 198 votes to emerge the state’s governor-elect.

As results of the election from the local government areas trickled into the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, Ms. Al-Hasan, fondly known as Mama Taraba by supporters, at some point overtook her main challenger, Mr. Ishaku.

This triggered nationwide celebration by people who thought Ms. Al-hasan was on her way to becoming the first female governor.

But the votes from Sardauna, the last local government being expected, has just arrived, dashing hopes of Nigeria getting her first female state executive.

INEC’s final collation is ongoing and the electoral body is expected to declare PDP’s Mr. Ishaku the winner of the election.