Four days after, Alex Otti, former Managing Director of defunct Diamond Bank, was on Wednesday declared winner of Saturday’s governorship election, in Abia State, ending 24 years of unbroken rule by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has been in power in the state since 1999.
In the final result announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which had earlier suspended further action on the election that took place on March 18, Otti, candidate of Labour Party (LP), polled 175,467 to defeat Okey Ahiwe, of the PDP, his closest rival, who scored 88,529 votes.
The latest development, followed the resolution of the logjam created during the collation of the result of the Obingwa Local Goavernment Area (LGA), following allegation of violence raised both by INEC and the LP, but which was heavily disputed by the PDP.
INEC, had on Monday, announced the suspension of the results from the council and announcement of the winner of the election in the state, claiming that thugs invaded its office in Obingwa LGA, and held the INEC officials hostage and that it took the intervention of security operatives to get them released.
It is the first state to be won by the LP, after sweeping the polls in the presidential and National Assembly results on February 25, when its Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, contested.
