The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Dr. Alex Otti of the Labour Party, winner and Governor-Elect of Abia State.
Otti pummeled Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) to win the election.
Otti scored 175,467 votes, Ahiwe polled 88,529 while Nwafor got 28,972.
The LP candidate also won 10 of the 17 Local Government Areas in the state, PDP got six while the YPP got one.
The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state, Prof 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, 48 hours after INEC suspended the exercise in the state.
“That Otti Alex Chioma of Labour Party having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner of the election,” said Nnannaya-Oti, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
This is Otti’s third attempt. He was the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2015 and 2019 elections.
There were attempts to pad figures and rig the vote against Otti, but Prof Nnannaya-Oti was having none of it. Otti had been rigged out in the 2015 and 2019 elections by PDP incumbents.
“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,” said Nnannaya-Oti, before the LP candidate was declared winner.