The Labour Party candidate, Alex Otti has been declared the winner of the governorship poll in Abia state.
He was eventually declared the winner on Wednesday after the conclusion of the collation of the controversial results of Obingwa Local Government Area in the state.
The Returning Officer, Prof Nnenna Oti declared the LP candidate the winner at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Umuahia, the state capital, after completing the suspended collation of results.
Otti polled a total of 175,464 to defeat Okey Ahiwe, his closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 88,529 votes.
On Monday, the electoral body suspended the collation of results in Abia after thugs invaded its office in Obingwa LGA.
The assailants held the INEC officials hostage before they were released, prompting the electoral commission to call for a review of the process.
At the time collation was halted, Otti was reportedly in the lead after garnering over 80,000 votes.
The party had won in all the five south-east states — Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, and Ebonyi — in the presidential election.
On Tuesday, Otti had called on INEC to declare the results of the election to ease tension in the state.
The victory is the first for the LP in the March 18 governorship election across the federation.
By Mosunmola Ogi-olu
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