The governor, who contested on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), polled 520,433 votes to defeat Sani Abubakar Danladi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who trailed him with 362,735 votes.
Ishaku won 12 of the 16 local government areas of the state to floor his closest rival (Danladi) with a gap of 157,698 votes.
Danladi won only in four councils: Jalingo, Ibi, Karim-Lamido and Gassol councils.
Sen. Aisha Jummai Alhassan of the United Development Party (UDP) polled 16,289 votes.
Breakdown of results is as follows:
Sardauna: APC 29,924 votes, PDP 38,618 votes and UDP 26 votes.
Ussa: APC 10,209 votes, PDP 20,569 votes.
Gassol: APC 46,385 votes, PDP 28,181 votes and UDP 1,577 votes.
Ardo-Kola: APC 19,617 votes, PDP 22,208 votes and UDP 725 votes.
Yorro: APC 6,712 votes, PDP 16,278 votes and UDP 725 votes.
Lau: APC 12,542 votes, PDP 20,881 votes and UDP 659 votes.
Zing: APC 7,105 votes, PDP 31,619 votes and UDP 699 votes.
Takum: APC 14,014 votes, PDP 50,562 votes and UDP 1,676 votes.
Gashaka: APC 10,746 votes, PDP 12,592 votes and UDP 505 votes.
Bali: APC 31,357 votes, PDP 34,744 votes and UDP 476 votes.
Ibi: APC 18,616 votes, PDP 13,630 votes and UDP 253 votes.
Jalingo: APC 58,511 votes, PDP 31,917 votes and UDP 1,698 votes.
Donga: APC 13,707 votes, PDP 42,696 votes and UDP 1,834 votes.
Wukari: APC 34,995 votes, PDP 92,527 votes and UDP 1,638 votes.
Kurmi: APC 3,815 votes, PDP 28,519 votes and UDP 595 votes.
Karim-Lamido: APC 44,480 votes, PDP 34,892 votes and UDP 1,327 votes.
There were 1,777,105 registered voters, of which 931,539 were accredited.
There were 909,716 valid votes, out of the total votes cast of 925,320, as 15,604 votes were rejected.
Ishaku’s victory extends the dominance of PDP in Taraba to 20 years as the party has not lost a governorship election in the state since 1999.
INEC Returning Officer for Taraba State, Prof. Shehu Adamu Iya declared Ishaku governor-elect, saying “Ishaku of the PDP has met all the requirements of the electoral Act.”
Iya described the election as peaceful, free and fair.
