Abia 2023; INEC declares Labour Party’s Alex Otti as winner of Governorship Election
Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP) has been declared winner of the 18 March, 2023 governorship election in Abia State.
The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the State, Professor Nnenna Nnannaya-Oti declared Otti the winner on Wednesday evening at the resumption of the final collation of governorship election results in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
This is coming over 48 hours after INEC suspended the exercise in the South-East State.
Otti trounced his opponents; Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party (YPP).
He scored 175,467, while Ahiwe polled 88,529 and Nwafor got 28,972.
Prof Nnannaya-Oti said: “That Otti Alex Chioma of Labour Party having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner of the election.”
Nnannaya-Oti, is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
The last time the LP produced a Governor in the last 20 years was when Olusegun Mimiko was elected Ondo State Governor from February 2009 to February 2017.
Nnannaya-Oti, before the announcement, said she will do the right of the people and protect democratic values.
“I shall stand squarely and unapologetically on these principles. The people’s votes and mandate shall stand.
“The pastor and the mother in me will not permit me to do anything that will adversely affect the future of our children,” she said.
So far, the results of 25 of the 28 governorship elections have been announced. APC won in 15 states, PDP in eight, LP in one while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) won Kano.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won in 15 states, including seven re-elected governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Muni (Yobe), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Babagana Zulum (Borno).
The party also secured wins for eight new candidates: Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Bassey Otu (Cross River), Mohammed Bago (Niger), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), and Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi).
On the other hand, the PDP secured eight victories including two reelected governors: Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi).
