Hope Uzodinma has emerged victorious in the Saturday governorship election in Imo State, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The election results pronounce Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress as the winner with 540,308 votes, while Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party trails with 71,503 votes.
The state Returning Officer, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, who serves as the Vice-Chancellor of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, announced the election results on Sunday morning at INEC’s state collation center in Owerri.
Athan Achonu from the Labour Party secured the third position in the election with a total of 64,081 votes.
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Anthony Ejiogu, representing the All Progressives Grand Alliance, clinched the fourth spot with 6,392 votes, while Jack Ogunewe of the Action Alliance followed in fifth place with 5,756 votes.
The state’s Returning Officer said, ‘I, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, I was the Returning officer for the Imo state governorship election held on November 11, 2023. That the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Good Hope Uzodinma, having scored the highest number of votes and satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the election and returned elected.’
Uzodinma’s success was highlighted in the results released by INEC, demonstrating a clean sweep across all 27 Local Government Areas of the state.
Callistus Ihejiagwa, the State Agent of the LP, faced violence and expulsion from the state Collation center after raising objections to the results declared by the Local Government Areas Returning Officers.
Uzodinma is slated to take the oath for his second term in office on January 14, 2024, following this result.He alleged that there was manipulation of the results in favor of the APC candidate.
The PDP’s state Agent, Kissinger Ikeokwu, left the collation center immediately.
The PDP and LP jointly called for the outright cancellation of the poll on Saturday night.
During a press conference, Samuel Anyanwu, the PDP candidate, stated that the election was unfairly rigged in Uzodinma’s favor.
Tony Nwulu, the deputy governorship candidate of the LP, accused security agents of supporting the rigging of the poll by providing security for INEC staff and APC members.
According to him, his party insisted that INEC should cancel the election.