Okorocha wins Imo Governorship Race

Okorocha

Okorocha

Rochas Okorocha, businessman and philanthropist has been declared the winner of the governorship election in Nigeria’s south eastern state of Imo state.

Rochas Okorocha

Okorocha who ran on the platform of APGA defeated the incumbent Ikedi Ohakim of the Peoples Democratic Party with 336,859 votes. Ohakim got 290,496 votes.

The candidate of the Action Congress, Senator Araraume came third with 107068 votes.

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission had ordered a supplementary election in three local councils in the state 6 May, where voting did not take place on 26 April during the governorship polls in 24 states of the country. The result of the earlier election was declared inconclusive, although Okorocha was in the lead with a very slim margin. Even at the rescheduled poll Friday, election could not hold in Oguta local council, after some disruptions by hoodlums, accused of working for the defeated PDP candidate.

INEC’s supervisory resident electoral commissioner, Professor Aniedi Ikoiwak, said yesterday that the electoral body would announce a decision today.

The decision effectively meant INEC had excluded the votes in Oguta council and given the victory to Okorocha.

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Okorocha had once sought to be Nigeria’s president in 2007.

His victory has brought to two the governors elected under APGA in the region.

For the election, INEC sent four commissioners and posted out the state commissioner over accusations by APGA that he had been compromised by the PDP.

APGA on its part had unsuccessfully tried to stop the poll via the court. APGA wanted INEC to declare OKorocha as winner without the recourse to the supplementary poll as time had run out constitutionally for a rerun.

The elected governor will be sworn in on 29 May.

Ohakim as governor in the last four years had incurred the enmity of many people in the state, especially the powerful Roman Catholic priests for his high handedness and rights violation.

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