'Akpabio describes his loss as a temporary setback

The former governor of Akwa Ibom state lost his bid to return to the national assembly after he was defeated by Chris Ekpeyong of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to the announcement made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP candidate got 118,215 votes to defeat the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) who polled 83,158 votes in the Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district election.

The former Senate minority leader however said he did not lose the election, adding that something must have gone wrong during the collation of the results.

While speaking to the press shortly after the presentation of certificates of return to President Muhammadu Buhari and vice president Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja on Wednesday, February 27, the lawmaker said he is going to challenge the outcome in court to get back his mandate.

Akpabio said, "My mandate is solid and waiting for me. You know that I cannot fail election, I cannot fail.

" I won, I won, it is a temporary setback that is why there are processes. If for instance, you feel you were cheated or there was wrong collation, you resort to the court. For me, I did not fail, I can’t fail. I believe strongly that there must have been some wrong collation somewhere, so those things will be corrected.

" We have processes in the election; it is from one stage now, we have registration, you have to vote, you have to collate and if there are mistakes anywhere, you go to court and get back your mandate."

The Akwa Ibom lawmaker joins 24 other senators and two incumbent governors who lost their bids to go to the red chamber.