Ugo Nosiri, Owerri
Imo State is generally calm while few supporters of the APC are seen celebrating within the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as Chief Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has been declared winner of yesterday’s governorship election in the state.
Senator Uzodimma who is the incumbent governor of the state, polled a total of 540,308 votes to defeat Senator Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 71,503 votes to emerge second.
The Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor Federal University Oye-Ekiti Ekiti state Professor Fashina Abayomi while making the declaration at INEC headquarters in Owerri said Chief Hope Uzodimma scored the majority of lawful votes cast and met the constitutional requirement.
With the declaration, Chief Uzodimma has been re-elected for a second term in office and is expected to take oath of office on January 15 2024.
According to INEC, 17 political parties fielded candidates in the election in which Athan Achonu of the Labour Party came third with 6, 4081 votes.
Agents of the major opposition parties were not available to sign the result sheets as they had staged a walkout over the refusal of the Returning Officer to review the results which they claimed were at variance with the results uploaded on the bimodal voter accreditation system.
