INEC Declares Labour Party’s Alex Otti as Abia Governor-elect
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gas declared Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP) as the winner of the governorship election in Abia State.
Otti emerged victorious in the March 18 guber poll after beating his major rival Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The LP candidate secured 175,467 votes, while Ahiwe got 88,529.
Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) scored 28,972 votes to finish third.
The Returning Officer for INEC in Abia State, Nnenna Nnannaya-Oti, declared Otti winner of the election after resuming the final collation of governorship election results in Umuahia, the state capital, on Wednesday, March 22.
INEC had suspended the exercise for over 48 hours following reports that thugs invaded the Commission’s office in Obingwa Local Government Area on Sunday, March 19.
INEC officials were reportedly held hostage by the thugs, who wanted to influence the collation of results from the LGA.
Abia is the first state to be won by the LP. The party is also contesting with the PDP for Enugu State, where collation was also suspended due to allegations of over-voting in two outstanding local government areas – Nsukka and Nkanu East.
