Laguda wins Surulere bye-election as APC retains Gbajabiamila's rep seat

Fuad Laguda, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has emerged as the winner of the Surulere Federal Constituency 1 bye-election.

In the election that was held on Saturday, February 3, 2024, Laguda, a former APC chairman in the Surulere Local Government, brushed aside all his contenders to secure a comfortable win.

Declaring the results, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer for the bye-election, Prof Simeon Adebayo, said the APC candidate polled 11,203 votes.

His closest rival from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored a paltry 278 votes, while the Labour Party candidate garnered 240 votes.

Laguda will replace Femi Gbajabiamila at the green chamber after the latter vacated his seat to become President Bola Tinubu's Chief of Staff.

The seasoned lawmaker was the Speaker of the House of Representatives between 2019 and 2023.

Gbaja, as fondly called, won his re-election into the House for the sixth consecutive term to represent the the Surulere 1 Federal Constituency during the February 25 National Assembly election.

But he vacated his seat in June 2023 after Tinubu appointed him Chief of Staff.