The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, has been declared the winner of the state governorship election held on Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Prof. Abayomi Fasina, the state Returning Officer for the election and Vice-Chancellor of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, announced the results on Sunday morning at INEC’s state collation center in Owerri, the state capital.
He proclaimed Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress the election winner with 540,308 votes, while Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party came in second with 71,503 votes.
Athan Achonu of the Labour Party finished third in the race with 64,081 votes.
Anthony Ejiogu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance finished fourth with 6,392 votes, and Jack Ogunewe of the Action Alliance finished five 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 Uzodimma, 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.”
According to the INEC results, Uzodimma won all 27 Local Government Areas in the state.
As a result, Uzodimma will be sworn in for a second term on January 14, 2024.
Earlier, Callistus Ihejiagwa, the LP’s State Agent, was battered and bundled out of the state Collation Centre when he contested the results announced by the Local Government Areas Retuning authorities.
He claimed that the results were skewed in favor of the APC candidate.
Kissinger Ikeokwu, the PDP’s state agent, quickly exited the collation center.
However, the PDP and LP appealed for the election to be canceled on Saturday night.
In a press conference, the PDP candidate, Samuel Anyanwu, claimed that the election was rigged in favor of Uzodimma.
In addition, Tony Nwulu, the LP’s deputy governorship candidate, stated that security agents provided security for INEC workers and APC members in order to rig the election.
He stated that his party’s position was for INEC to cancel the election.