The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Chief Okechukwu Ezea of Labour Party (LP), winner of Saturday’s general election for the Enugu North Senatorial District.
Premium Times reports that earlier, there was mild drama at the INEC collation centre in the district, when Mr Ubaka, the returning officer, said he would not collate the senatorial results unless he was given the district’s authentic forms for results and declaration.
Some LP members had accused the returning officer of colluding with an unnamed opposition candidate to overturn the result against the eventual winner.
The results of the exercise from the six local government areas that make up the district had put Mr Ezea in front, after reportedly winning in nearly all the council areas.
The six council areas that make up the district include Nsukka, Igbo-Eze South, Igbo-Eze North, Igbo-Etiti, Uzo-Uwani and Udenu, where Mr Ugwuanyi hails from.
The defeat of Mr Ugwuanyi marked the first time an opposition political party would unseat a candidate of the ruling PDP in the state.
The PDP had never lost any election in the state since the return of democracy in 1999.
Chukwuka Utazi, the incumbent senator representing the district, had stepped down for Mr Ugwuanyi, ahead of the PDP primary election for the district in May last year.
Mr Ugwunanyi is a member of the G5 group of PDP governors opposed to their party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. He will exit office as the governor of the state on 29 May this year after his two terms in office.
