Ugo Nosiri, Owerri
Collation of results for yesterday’s governorship election in Imo State started around 02:30am on Sunday in Owerri, the state capital.
The Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Professor Abayomi Fashina, called on stakeholders to maintain decorum during the process.
As at the time of filing this report, all 27 Local Government results had been collated with Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winning all.
Meanwhile the exercise was repeatedly interrupted by agents of the opposition parties who repeatedly called for the suspension of the collation to enable the Returning Officer to compare the results announced with the data uploaded in the INEC IREV.
They alleged that the results announced were at variance with the results uploaded in the inec portal, However the Returning Officer rejected their request saying he lacked the powers to do anything.
Dissatisfied with the situation the agents walked out of the collation center while the exercise continued.
According to INEC, the number of registered voters in the state for the poll was 2, 419,922 with 2,318,919 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected.
At the end of the collation at 08:30 am on Sunday, Fashina announced that the collation centre would go on an hour break and reconvene for the announcement of the winner.
