BLYDEN OKANNI of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared winner of the Ngor Okpala State Constituency by-election held in Imo State on Saturday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer for the election Dennis Akoh announced this in Owerri on Sunday.
According to him, Okanni polled 9,248 votes to defeat his closest rival, Emeka Nwachukwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 7,161 votes.
Akoh, a professor at the Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwor (FUNAI) in Ebonyi, who was the returning officer, said the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Christopher Nwaiwu came third with 501 votes.
He also disclosed that Joy Eze, the only female among the candidates, who contested on the National Rescue Movement (NRM) party, got 15 votes.
Akoh added that a total of 18,083 voters were accredited for the poll, out of a total of the 94,118 registered voters in the area.
He said the total valid votes cast were 17,280, while 582 votes were rejected.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via niyioyedeji1@gmail.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.
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