From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has suspended the announcement of the winner of the March 18 governorship election.

Prior to the suspension, results from 16 out of the 17 Local Government Areas of the state had been announced, with Dr Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP) defeating the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Okey Ahiwe, with over 93,000 margin votes.

The suspension was triggered by the contentious Obingwa LGA votes that were said to be over 80,000.

It was alleged that thugs invaded and attacked the INEC office during the collation of results for the Governorship and State Assembly elections of March 18, 2023.

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Reacting to the incident, the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information And Voter Education Committee of INEC, Festus Okoye said, “Earlier today (Monday), the Commission alerted the nation to the invasion of our Obingwa, Local Government Area office in Abia State by thugs during the collation of results for the Governorship and State Assembly elections in contention was the collated result from the Registration Areas for the governorship election in that Local Government Area.

“The intention was to force the collation of these contentious results. The behaviour of these thugs is unacceptable and there will be a thorough review of the results.

“The Commission does not take the patience of citizens for granted and will continue to take steps to protect the integrity of the Commission and consolidate the progress so far in the electoral process.”

The Abia INEC before adjourning the collation of results informed that a team from the National headquarters will be coming to Abia Tuesday, March 21, to announce the results from all LGAs of the State and declare the winner.