Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the Saturday’s Abia State governorship election, Alex Otti, has been declared winner of the election.
Otti, a renowned banker, polled the highest votes of 175,467. He was distantly trailed behind by the candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Okey Ahiwe, with 88,529 votes.
PDP has been in charge of the State since the return to democracy in 1999.
The Returning Officer for the election and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, Imo State, Prof. Prof. Nnenna Nnannaya Oti, made the formal declaration of the winner after completion of collation of results of the election on Wednesday.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier on Monday, March 20, 2023 suspended the collation of result from Obingwa local government area of the State over security concern.
The collation resumed on Wednesday after the review of the exercise by the Electoral Commission was completed.
INEC stated this in a statement made available to journalists and signed by the national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of the Commission, Festus Okoye, on Wednesday in Abuja.
Consequently, he said the collation of results for the governorship election will continue this Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
“The Commission appreciates the patience and understanding of the people of both states as we conclude the collation processes,” Okoye had stated.
