The candidate of the Labour Party, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR was on Wednesday 22nd March, 2023 declared winner of the 2023 Abia State governorship election.
Declaring Otti winner of the election, the Returning Officer, Prof. Nnenna Oti, Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, (FUTO), Owerri , announced that the Labour Party candidate scored a total of 176,372 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party who polled 88,599, bringing an end, a dramatic collation and announcement of results for Abia State
Dr. Otti won 10 of the 17 LGA’s in the state, they include, Aba North, Aba South, Umuahia North , Umuahia South and Ikwuano. Others are Umunneochi, Isikwuato, Bende, Ohafia and Arochukwu. The YPP candidate, Engr. Nnanna Nwafor was declared winner of Osisioma LGA, while the PDP clinched Obingwa, Isiala Ngwa North, Isiala Ngwa South, Ugwunabo, Ukwa East and Ukwu West.
The election of the 18th of March, 2023 witnessed a low turnout of voters across the country. In Abia, the election was conducted under a free and fair atmosphere with isolated reports of violence in a few local governments. In Arochukwu, the election was peaceful. Our correspondent who visited many polling units reported orderly conducts by the electorates.
Voting commenced in some units as early as 8 am, this was due to the early arrival of INEC personnel unlike what played out during the Presidential and National Assembly elections. After accreditation and voting, most electorates remained in the polling units for counting of votes and upload of results before going home. After voting was concluded, collation of results took place. INEC adhoc staff and party agents immediately moved to Arochukwu LGA secretariat for collation of results and announcement of winners. While collation of results from the LGA’s took place at the INEC office in Umuahia. 16 LGA results were collated and announced seamlessly with the exemption of Obingwa local government area
The Obingwa Debacle
While the result of Obingwa LGA was been expected, reports filtered in that thugs had invaded the local government secretariat and held INEC staff hostage. Frantic efforts were made to rescue INEC staff and move the result to Umuahia. Security forces swung in action, rescued the staff and moved the result to Umuahia. Dr. Otti had earlier in the night of the 19th of March in an interview, raised alarm that election in Obingwa was conducted without the use of the BVAS machine. He also pointed out irregularities in Aba North, South and Osisioma.
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) immediately swung into action and ordered the suspension of further collation and announcement of Obingwa result as well as those of Nkanu East and West in Enugu State. It ordered the review of result in Obingwa before collation and announced could take place. INEC later moved the staff and BVAS machines used for the exercise to Abuja where it carried out the review. It was alleged that the PDP had falsified the results of Obingwa from the 9,962 votes it garnered to over 108,000 at the same time, reducing the result of LP from 3,776 to a mere 41 votes. After the review by INEC, the Returning Officer, Prof. Nnenna Oti alongside the Administrative Secretary of INEC in Abia State and other staff were asked to return to Abia State, collate the result and announce a winner. Dr. Alex Otti was eventually declared the winner of the election four days after the poll.
While the official declaration of the winner of the election was been awaited, there was palpable tension in the state. Party supporters led siege at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state. Several supporters of the Labour Party and many Abians alike learnt their voices in asking INEC to declare Dr. Otti, the winner of the election.
Wild jubilations in Abia
After the announcement of the results and declaration of Dr. Alex Otti as winner of the election in the evening of Wednesday, the 22nd of March 2023, Abians in Umuahia, Aba, Arochukwu and other cities, took to the streets in wild celebrations. They thanked God for the eventual victory of Alex Otti and charged him to do his best to ensure Abia State takes its pride of place in Nigeria. Abians celebrated for days. In Amaibo Ubakala for instance, people celebrated until Friday, 24th of March with street party and long procession of vehicles beaming their horns and thanking God for the liberation of the state. A large crowd gathered at Apunmiri junction, Ubakala, Umuahia immediately Otti was declared the winner of the election. The procession moved from Apunmiri towards Avodim, Ipupe up to Isi Gate and inward Amakama, chanting solidarity songs in praise of Dr. Otti while mocking the PDP.
In Arochukwu, the heavy downpour could not deter the people from dancing and celebrating. Several canons were fired to celebrate the victory. Aba and its metropolis was thrown into jubilation. Keke operators, bus drivers, traders. artisans etc, all joined in the celebrations. Many of them called on the governor-elect to move Abia State forward, clear the backlog of salaries and arrears and equally charged him to provide infrastructure. Some of them lamented the impassable and deplorable state of roads in Aba like Port-Harcourt Road, Ariaria, Brass road etc and the decayed health institutions. They lamented that all sectors in Abia are decayed and prayed to God to give the governor-elect the grace to rise up to the challenges.
Otti’s long walk to victory
Alex Otti’s quest to clinch the plum job as the Chief Executive Officer of Abia State began in 2014 when he quit his plum job as the Managing Director of Diamond Bank to join the murky waters of politics. He threw his hat into the guber race by joining and emerging the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He contested the election and was on the verge of victory before Obingwa LGA magic votes of over 82,000 was smuggled in. The Returning Officer had earlier cancelled the result of Obingwa, Ugwunabo and Osisioma LGA’s due to irregularities but was forced to rescind his decision after the then governor of Abia State, Sen TA Orji, Col Austin Akobundu (Rtd), Oliseh Metuh and others, stormed INEC office. Thereafter, Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP was declared the winner of the election after a supplementary election in some LGA’s. Unsatisfied with the outcome of the election, Otti headed to court to reclaim his stolen mandate and was eventually declared winner of the election by the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri in December, 2015. However, the Supreme Court upturned his victory and declared Ikpeazu, winner of the election.
In 2019, Dr. Alex Otti contested the governorship election under same APGA but INEC also declared Ikpeazu winner of the election. He contested the outcome of the election in court but was not successful. He left APGA for APC in 2020 but due to the internal wrangling in the party, Dr. Otti defected to the Labour Party from APC in 2022 and eventually won the election.
Congratulatory messages flow in
Before the official declaration of Dr. Alex Otti as governor-elect, congratulatory messages started pouring in. Interestingly, the messages came from other governorship contestants . Prof Greg Ibe of APGA was the first to send his congratulatory message. Mazi Chibuike Jonas, Bond Ohuche, Engr. Nnanna Nwafor, Bishop Emeka Nwamkpa, Mascot Uzor Kalu and others all sent in their messages.
Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu in his message to the governor-elect, acknowledged his staying power and his resilience, he called on other contestants to shun litigation. He pledged a seamless transition and wished the governor-elect success. The Chief Whip of the Senate in his congratulatory message to Dr. Otti, charged him to unite Abians and engage in development of the state
Certificate of Return
The Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) on Wednesday, the 29th of March, 2023 at its Umuahia office, presented the Certificate of return to Dr. Alex Otti, OFR of the Labour Party as the winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election in Abia State.
No comments