PDP’s Peter Mbah wins Enugu governorship election

The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Peter Mbah, has won the 2023 governorship election in the state.

Mr Mbah scored 160,895 votes to defeat the closest candidate, the Labor Party (LP) candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, who got 157,552 votes.

The candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Frank Nweke Jr, got 17,983 votes to come a distant third, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uche Nnaji, was fourth, with 14,575 votes.

The Electoral Officer for the election, Maduebibisi Iwe, announced the results at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) State Gathering Center on Wednesday night at exactly 10:47.

“Mbah Peter Ndubuisi of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), having met all the legal requirements and obtained the highest number of votes in the election, is hereby declared the winner of the election and re-elected,” said Mr. Iwe. .

The returning officer, who is the vice chancellor of Umudike University of Agriculture, announced the results after completing the collection of results from two local government areas in the state which were earlier suspended by INEC due to alleged irregularities.

The two local government areas are: East Nkanu and Nsukka.

INEC has explained that the postponement is to enable the commission to conduct a review of disputed results from council areas.

But on Wednesday, the commission announced that the review has been completed and collection will resume at the collection center on Wednesday.

Mr. Iwe, the returning officer, said the petition against Nsukka Local Government Area was rejected by INEC during the review of the results, while Nkanu East Council area went ahead.

He said the commission reduced the result from the 30,350 votes previously awarded to the PDP candidate to 16,956 votes, after reviewing the results.

The commission, while checking, also increased the initial score of the LP candidate by 1855 votes in the council area to 1864 votes, according to the returning officer.

He said, contrary to earlier allegations by the LP agent, Eugene Edeoga, that the BVAS machine was not used during the exercise in the council area, the commission determined that the machine was used.

Returning officials, however, said the commission only found that there were some infractions in the elections in the council area.

But the LP agent, Mr. Edeoga, opposed INEC’s decision, insisting that the commission should annul the election in Nkanu East Council Area, in line with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act due to “violations” in the process. .

In response, the official bali , said the decision was taken at the Abuja headquarters of the commission which depends on the review of the materials used for the election in the council area.

The PDP agent, on his part, argued that the position of the LP agent was before there was a case of voting in the area, stating that the BVAS machine was used in the exercise in the area.

He called on returning officers to come forward and announce the results of the governorship election in the state so that those who are not satisfied with the results can seek redress in court.

In the final results announced on Wednesday night, PDP candidates won in nine council areas, while LP candidates won in eight.

The nine council areas Mr. Mbah won are Uzo-Uwani, Udi, Ezeagu, Aninri, Nkanu West, Enugu South, Awgu, Enugu East and Nkanu East, where he hails from.

The LP candidate won the following eight council areas: Igbo-Eze North, Oji River, Igbo-Etiti, Igbo-Eze South, Nsukka, Udenu, Enugu North and Isi-Uzo, where he came from.