Dr Alex Otti of the Labour party has emerged as the governor – elect of Abia State following his victory at the March 18 gubernatorial polls.
Otti polled 175,467 to defeat the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Okey Ahiwe who received 88,529 . The candidate of the Young Progressive party YPP scored a total of 28972
Otti,a renowned economist and banker won 10 of the 17 Local Government Areas while his closest rival,Ahiwe got 6 and YPP took 1.
Declaring the winner in resumed collation on Wednesday evening, the returning officer, Prof. Nnannaya- Oti said Otti haven satisfied the requirements of the law was returned elected.
It will be recalled that the Abia election collation was suspended following the padding of results in Obingwa, the last Local Government Area
It was learnt that the number of accredited voters outnumbered the votes cast which made the returning officer to outrightly reject a further collation of the results of Obingwa LGA.
Meanwhile, Otti has promised the people of Abia life in the area of payment of salary and pensions and other services as well as project delivery.
The governor – elect in his acceptance speech on Wednesday evening in Umuahia, the Abia State capital extended his hand of fellowship to his fellow contenders saying each of them has what it takes to govern the state going by their track records . He also paid tribute to fallen party heroes and those alive who contributed to his success at the polls
