By Cynthia Johnson
Governor Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been officially declared winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Imo State.
The Returning Officer of INEC, Abayomi Sunday, vice chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State as gathered by Quest Times, made the declaration on Sunday morning at the state collation center in Owerri.
Uzodinma according to Sunday, scored 540,308 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 71,503 votes. The Labour Party candidate, Athan Achonu, came third with 64,081 votes. Other 15 candidates did not have up to 10,000 votes.
“Hope Odidika Uzodinma having satisfied all the requirements of law and scored majority of the lawful votes, is hereby declared elected,” he declared.
Uzodinma won in all the 27 local government areas of Imo. However, both the PDP and LP candidates have alleged fraud and demanded the cancellation of the election.
Also, the voter turnout for the election was less than 40%.
His victory implies that he will spend four more years as Imo governor, unless it is upturned by the courts.