Akwa Ibom Election Results: Udom Emmanuel Retires Akpabio, Beats APC’s Ekere To Get 2nd Term

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Udom Emmanuel, who is candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of Saturday’s governorship election in Akwa Ibom.

The Returning Officer, Prof. Faraday Orumwense, Vice Chancellor, University of Benin, who announced the result in Uyo on Monday, said that Emmanuel won in all the 31 local government areas of the state.

Orumwense said Emmanuel was re-elected governor having polled 519,712 votes. His main rival, Mr Nsima Ekere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 171,978 votes.

Mr Emmanuel Nwankpa of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Mr Ekene Uzodinma of the United Peoples Party (UPP) polled 2,547 and 1,476 votes, respectively.

Orumwense said that there were 2,119,727 registered voters in the state.

He said that 720,064 voters were accredited, adding that 6 96,245 valid votes were recorded, while 15, 792 votes were declared void.

He noted that the election was keenly contested, saying that 50 political parties contested for the governorship election in the state.

The Akwa Ibom election was seen as a test case for Akpabio, who decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and promised to deliver Akwa Ibom to the ruling party.

With this victory political observers believe that the governor has retired Akpabio from politics. The Senator had also lost his bid to return to the Senate in the February 23 National Assembly election.

Photo: Governor Udom Emmanuel