The by-election to fill the vacant seat for Ahoada East Constituency II in the Rivers State House of Assembly, held on Saturday, 21 February 2026, recorded low voter turnout across several polling units.
Many residents spoke with Fusion Chronicles Press Crew, and cited a lack of confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system as a key reason for their decision to stay away from the polls. Some said they preferred to use the time for other personal engagements rather than participate in the voting process.
Other voters interviewed across the six wards in the constituency attributed the low turnout to the late arrival of officials and materials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). According to them, delays at several polling units discouraged prospective voters, many of whom reportedly left after waiting for hours without accreditation commencing.
Despite the low turnout, the election was generally described by participants as peaceful and orderly in most communities where voting took place.
INEC officials deployed across the constituency assured voters that results from polling units would be electronically transmitted in line with provisions of the Electoral Act.
They confirmed that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices were fully operational and supported by adequate network connectivity for seamless upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
At the conclusion of the exercise, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ukalikpe Napoleon, was declared winner of the by-election after securing the highest number of valid votes cast.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him winner of the election after he secured 3,980 votes. The by-election was conducted without the participation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), as both opposition parties did not field candidates for the contest.
FULL RESULTS OF THE AHOADA EAST CONSTITUENCY II BY-ELECTION.
AA – 33 votes
APC – 3,980 votes
APN – 38 votes
BP – 11 votes
NNPP – 7 votes
YPP – 7 votes
ZLP – 6 votes
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged winner with a total of 3,980 votes, defeating other parties by a wide margin.
