June 06, (THEWILL) – Senator Obinna Ogba, representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial Zone, has won the rescheduled governorship primary election of the Ebonyi Chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The election was held on Sunday at the party’s secretariat in Abakaliki.
The accreditation of delegates and voting began around 8 p.m on Sunday and ran into the early hours of Monday.
Five hundred and thirteen delegates from the 171 wards of the 13 LGAs of the state took part in the primary election.
Chief Chris Okolo, Chairman of the Electoral Panel, said that Ogba polled 253 votes to emerge the winner. According to him, Chief Edwin Nwonu, a member of the House of Representatives representing Ishielu/Ezza North Federal Constituency, came second with 110 votes and Dr Sylvester Ogbaga, another member of the House of Representatives, came third with 63 votes.
Mr Fidelis Nwankwo got 44 votes, while Chief Chukwuma Nwazunku, representing Ebonyi/Ohaukwu Federal Constituency, polled six votes and Chief Austin Edeze secured three votes.
Senator Paulinus Igwenwagu got two votes and Mr Augustine Nwazunku secured one vote.
Chief Ifeanyochukwu Odii got one vote, while Mr Chris Usulor and Dr Sunday Opoke abstained.
According to Okolo, 14 invalid ballots were recorded.
“I, Mr Chris Okolo, conferred with the power to chair this panel, hereby declare Senator Obinna Ogba winner. Having polled the highest number of valid votes and having met all the requirements for the election, 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 his hand of fellowship to the other contestants and declared his victory as “victory for the PDP“.
He thanked the delegates, party members and leaders of 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.
“To my fellow contestants, I extend my hand of fellowship to them; this is a sport and one person must win and I call on them to come and join me so that we can take our party to the highest level.“
Chief Tochukwu Okorie, PDP Chair, in a brief remark commended the party delegates for the peaceful and orderly conduct of the exercise.
He also commended the electoral panel for conducting a seamless, peaceful, transparent and credible exercise urging those who lost to team up to ensure victory for the party at the 2023 general elections.
It would be recalled that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP had in a letter dated May 31 and addressed to the National Chairman, annulled previous primary elections of the party held in Ebonyi, including the governorship primary.
The primaries conducted between May 28 and May 29 by a faction led by Mr Silas Onu and which elected Odii as the governorship candidate, was, however, boycotted by the Okorie faction.
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Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
