Mr Akpabio's victory in the Saturday's election came as a shock because of how the PDP had been entrenched in Akwa Ibom politics and how his kin and party chieftains rejected his candidacy days before the poll.

The former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has won the senatorial election in Akwa Ibom North-west District.

Mr Akpabio, who contested the election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated his closest rival, Emmanuel Enoidem of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He scored 115,401 votes, while Mr Enoidem scored 69,838 votes in the election.

The APC has also reportedly won two out of the four federal constituencies in the Akwa Ibom North-West District, according to the results announced so far by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday.

Mr Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, won the 2015 senatorial election in the district as a candidate of the PDP, but later, in August 2018, defected to the APC.

He contested again for the senatorial election in 2019 as the APC candidate, but lost to Christopher Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom, who was the PDP candidate in the election.

Mr Akpabio's victory in the Saturday's election came as a shock because of how the PDP had been entrenched in Akwa Ibom politics and how his kin and party chieftains rejected his candidacy days before the poll.

Mr Akpabio's rival in the election, Mr Enoidem, was a close ally when Mr Akpabio was a PDP member.

INEC would announce more election results in the state on Monday.