The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Babagana Zulum, has been declared the winner of the gubernatorial election in Borno State.

Mr Zulum, who is believed to be the anointed candidate of the outgoing governor, Kashim Shettima, was declared the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday having polled the highest number of votes.

Declaring the result, the INEC Returning Officer in the state, Alhassan Gani, said Mr Zulum polled 1,175, 440 votes to beat his closest opponent, Muhammad Imam of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 66, 115 votes.

Mr Gani announced that INEC had registered 2,316,218 voters in the state, out of which 1,292,138 voters were accredited for the election.

He said 1,289,027 votes were cast, out of which the APC polled 1,175,440 votes. The PDP scored 66,115 votes.

The official added that 1,266,967 valid votes and 22,060 rejected votes were recorded in the election contested by 32 candidates.

According to him, the APC candidate polled the highest votes cast in the 27 local government areas and fulfilled the requirements of the law.

“Babagana Zulum, the governorship candidate of the APC, having scored the highest number of votes and fulfilled the requirements of the law, is hereby returned elected,” he said.

According to Daily Trust, while the APC agent, Muhammad Makintami, and other agents of political parties accepted the results and signed the document on behalf of their parties, the agent of the PDP refused to sign the document after the collation exercise.