The by-election was held to replace the late Princess Olufunke Adedoyin (who died of cancer in September at the House of Representatives.

The leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara says it has resolved to deploy all legal means possible to retrieve the House of Representatives ticket from the APC.

What the PDP plans to do

PDP insiders disclose that high-level meetings were held last week in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

The PDP will also appeal the outcome of the election at the tribunal, Pulse was reliably informed.

An experienced Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) with a strong history of winning electoral appeals, has been briefed to file the petition based on what has been described as 'strong evidence of substantial non-compliance with the applicable electoral law', another source shared.

According to the source, this move has energised members and supporters across the state, especially in Kwara South where the elections took place.

"The fact that only 25 percent of registered voters voted in the election even in our traditional strongholds in Kwara South shows that the overwhelming deployment of security forces to intimidate our members, the unjust arrest of our members, coupled with wide-spread malpractice was responsible for APC's victory.

"Those who see the results of a by-election in which APC cheated as evidence that Saraki-PDP is beatable in Kwara should stop deceiving themselves. We will reclaim our stolen mandate. Mark my words”, said the source.

The source laughed off rumours suggesting that the outcome of the by-election spurred the raft of changes in the current PDP set-up.

One highly placed PDP official said: ”Consultation and reviews have always been part of the Saraki PDP structure. It's a decade-long practice to take members' feedback over party decisions. Currently, the leadership is reviewing  and addressing feedback from members across the board.

"It's nothing to do with our stolen mandate in the by-election which we will soon recover. This feedback, consultation and review by our leadership in the PDP are the primary reasons we haven't experienced the kind of impunity the APC is notorious for and which has put their party in disarray and weakened it ahead of 2019."

Senate President Saraki who leads the PDP in Kwara, dumped the governing APC on July 31, 2018. The by-election was always seen as a test of his mettle and popularity in Kwara; with APC Chairman Adams Oshiomhole gloatingafter the by-election result had gone his party's way.