After five days of controversy, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Barr. Peter Mbah has been declared winner of the governorship election in Enugu State.
Mbah’s declaration came over the controversial results from Nkanu East Local Government Area.
He will take over from Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
So far, PDP has won in nine states in the country.
Barr. Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party came second in the keenly contested election held on Saturday, March 18.
The state Collation and Returning Officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, said Mbah polled a total of 160,895 votes to defeat the closest contender, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party, who polled a total of 157,552 votes.
Iwe, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike, said, “That Mbah of the PDP having scored the highest number of votes cast and having satisfied the requirements of the law, he is hereby declared the winner and he is returned elected.”
He said the total number of registered voters in Enugu State is 2,112,793; the number of accredited voters is 381,971. The total number of valid votes cast is 358,463 while the total number of rejected votes is 9,088.
The total number of votes cast is 367,551.
INEC on Monday suspended the collation of results and declaration of the winner of the poll following allegations of over-voting and results manipulation in Nkanu East and Nsukka local government areas of the state.
Labour Party State agent, Dr Eugene Edeoga on Sunday during the collation of election results for the local government area, objected to the results of Nkanu East. He claimed that the results of the local government were heavily padded to manipulate the outcome of the election in favour of the PDP candidate.
He insisted that the results of the local government should be cancelled.
The PDP state collation agent, Dr Festus Uzo made similar allegations about Nsukka LGA, where the candidate of the Labour Party was leading with over 30,000 votes.
Consequently, on Monday following a series of protests from supporters of the Labour Party candidate and PDP candidate, the INEC national headquarters suspended the collation to review the results of the two local government areas.
However, on Wednesday night, the INEC returning officer, Prof Iwe said, “This afternoon, I was requested to return to Enugu that the commission had concluded and resolved the issues in Nsukka and Nkanu East. We received particularly petitions about Nsukka and Nkanu East local governments.
“The petition against Nsukka was overruled by the commission. However, the petition about Nkanu East was sustained. The commission found that there was over-voting. From 30,350, the commission reduced it to 16,956 votes for PDP.
“For Labour Party, it was 1,855, after review, it became 1,864 votes that is the summary of what happened in Abuja. And based on the fact that the petition of Nkanu East is sustained, we call on the collation officer of Nkanu East to come forward to collate the results of the Nkanu East.”
Reacting, the Labour Party agent, Dr Eugene Edeoga, said, “I am glad that the case made against Nsukka is not sustained. And the case made against Nkanu East was sustained. However, the rule is that when over-voting is established and non-use of BVAS in the election had been established, the penalty is cancellation. I want to ask whether the rules have changed.”
The returning officer, however, said it was the decision of the electoral commission.
However, having won in the Nkanu East local government area, the PDP candidate has now won in nine local government areas with Edeoga of LP winning in eight local government areas.
Mbah won in Udi with a total of 13,633 votes while LP polled 10,109 votes; in Ezeagu, PDP polled 7,576 votes while LP scored 5,949; in Aninri, PDP scored 6,520 while LP scored 3,431 votes; in Uzo-Uwani, PDP won with 7,298 votes to defeat LP with 5,257 votes; in Enugu South, the PDP won with 10,557 votes while LP scored 7,438 votes; in Awgu, the PDP won with 10,668 votes against LP’s 5,462 votes; in Nkanu West, the PDP won with a total of 8,382 votes against LP’s 2,577 votes and in Nkanu East, the PDP scored 16,956 votes and LP scored 1,855.
In Enugu East, LP got 12,405 votes while PDP had 12,803.
The LP won in Igbo-Eze North with 9,955 votes while PDP scored 8,738 votes. It won in Igbo-Etiti with 11,941 votes, PDP 8,959 votes; LP won in Oji River with 7,747 votes while PDP scored 7,365 votes; in Isi-Uzo, LP won with 12,518 votes while PDP polled a total of 6,381 votes.
In Nsukka, LP won with 30,294 votes while PDP scored 10,886; in Enugu North, LP won with a total of 9,610 votes while PDP scored 9,333 votes; in Igbo-Eze South, LP won with 9,680 votes and PDP polled 4,691 votes. In Udenu, LP won with a total of 11,315 votes while PDP scored a total of 10,148 votes.
