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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Imo State.
The state’s Returning Officer and vice chancellor of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Prof Abayomi Fashina, declared Uzodimma the winner on Sunday morning, at the state collation centre in Owerri.
Fashina said the APC candidate scored 540,308 votes to defeat his closest challenger and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Samuel Anyanwu, who scored 71,503 votes. Labour Party’s candidate, Athan Achonu, came third with 64,081 votes.
According to Fashina, the number of registered voters in the state was 2,419,922, with 2,318,919 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected.
Uzodimma won in all the 27 local government areas of the state.
However, both the PDP and LP candidates have alleged fraud and demanded the cancellation of the election.