The Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Obinna Ogba, has won the rescheduled governorship primary election of the Ebonyi Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, held on Sunday at the party’s secretariat in Abakaliki, the state capital.
Our correspondent reports that the accreditation and voting process, which began around 8:00 pm on Sunday, spilled over into the early hours of Monday.
513 delegates from the 171 wards of the 13 Local Government Areas of the state voted in the primary election which commenced simultaneously with the accreditation of delegates around 9:00 pm, while collation, counting, and announcement of the results were done at about 1:00 am on Monday.
Chairman of the Electoral Panel, Mr. Chris Okoko, who announced the results before journalists, said that Ogba, who polled total valid votes of 253, won the election and had been returned and nominated as the PDP governorship candidate for the 2023 general election.
According to him, Chief Edwin Nwonu, a member representing Ishielu/Ezza North Federal Constituency, came a distant second with 110 votes while another Reps member, Dr. Sylvester Ogbaga, came third by polling 63 votes.
Okolo further stated that Mr. Fidelis Nwankwo garnered 44 votes; Chief Chukwuma Nwazunku, representing Ebonyi/Ohaukwu Federal Constituency, polled six votes, and Chief Austin Edeze got three votes.
According to the results, Sen. Paulinus Igwenwagu got two votes while Mr. Augustine Nwazunku polled one vote respectively.
The chairman who said that 14 invalid ballots were recorded added that Chief Ifeanyochukwu Odii who boycotted the polls got one vote while Mr. Chris Usulor and Dr. Sunday Opoke abstained from the governorship primary election.
“Therefore, I, Mr. Chris Okolo having been conferred with the power to chair this panel, hereby declare Sen. Obinna Ogba winner having polled the total highest number of valid votes and having met all the requirements for the election and he is hereby returned elected.
“The exercise was counted openly and witnessed by agents of the aspirants, leaders of the party present as well as security agents,” Okolo said.
Meanwhile, Ogba in his acceptance speech, extended hands of fellowship to the other contestants declaring his victory as a victory for the PDP.
He thanked the delegates, party members, and leaders of the PDP for entrusting him with their mandate to fly the party’s flag in the state governorship election in 2023.
He said, “I feel very happy, I thank the Almighty God who made the event very successful; I thank all our party members for finding me worthy to fly the flag of our great party, the PDP.
“I, especially, thank Distinguished Sen. Pius Anyim, Sen Sam Egwu, Chief Ali Odefa, the Zonal National Vice chairman of our party, the state party chairman, Chief Tochukwu Okorie.
“To my fellow contestants, I extend my hands of fellowship to them; this is a sport and one person must win, and so, I call on them to come and join me so that we can take our party to the highest level.”
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