INEC declares Otti winner of Abia governorship poll

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Dr Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP) the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Abia.

The State Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Owerri, Prof. Nnenna Oti, declared the result on Wednesday at the State Collation Centre, INEC, Umuahia.

Oti said that LP polled 175,467 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party, who polled 88,529 votes.

Chief Enyinnaya Nwafor of Young Progressives Party scored 28972 votes, while Chief Ikechi Emenike of All Progressives Congress polled 24,091 to emerge third and fourth positions, respectively.

Oti said, “Alex Otti of LP having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”

The controversies surrounding the result from Obingwa Local Government Area was earlier put to rest at the resumption of the collation of the result on Wednesday.

The Collation Officer for Obingwa LGA, Dr Chimaroke Onyeabo, announced that PDP polled 9,962, while LP scored 3776 votes of the 27,664 accredited voters.

INEC had on Tuesday ordered the suspension of the collation of the result, following the alleged invasion of INEC office in the LGA and hostage taking of the LG Returning Officer.

In a remark, Oti said that “the pastor and mother in me would not allow me to go against Abia people’s voice and mandate”.

The state had been ruled by PDP since the return of democratic in 1999.

Meanwhile, the declaration of Otti as the governor was received with wild jubilation by residents of Umuahia, Aba, Arochukwu (Otti’s ancestral community) and other parts of the state.

Tension went high in the state, following the suspension of collation and subjecting the Obingwa result to review by INEC in Abuja.