The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Sunday, declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olaka Nwogu, as the winner of the Rivers South East Senatorial District bye-election conducted on Saturday.
Only four political parties and their candidates were cleared by the INEC to contest the June 20 bye-election, including the All Progressives Congress, the People’s Democratic Party, Action Alliance and the Labour Party
The Bye-election followed the death of the former representative of the Senatorial District, Senator Barry Mpigi, who passed on in February this year.
The poll was contested in seven local government areas that make up the Rivers South-East District. They are Khana, Gokana, Tai. Eleme, Andoni. Oyigbo and Opobo.
Continuing, the INEC Returning Officer for the election, Professor Rosemary Ogu, announced the result at the Rivers South East Senatorial Collation Centre at the Khana Local Government Council Secretariat in Bori, Rivers State on Saturday night.
Ogu declared that Nwogu Olaka Johnson of the PDP secured 46,961 votes to emerge as the winner of the election.
The PDP candidate, Nwogu, an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, defeated his closest rival, Osarokaka Ebenezer Erewari of the APC, who polled 1,647 votes.
The Returning Officer stated that Nwogu Olaka Johnson had met the requirements of the law and was accordingly declared elected as the Senator representing the Rivers South East Senatorial District.
Prof. Ogu stated, “The election was contested. The candidates received the following votes. Douglass Fabeke, Male of the political party, AA, received a total of 1175. OsaroKaka Ebenezer Erewar, male, of the APC political party, 1647 votes. Sam Kinani, male, of the LP political party, 367 votes. Nwogu Olaka Johnson, male, of the PDP political party, 47961 votes.
“That Nwogu Olaka Johnson of the PDP, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.”
Meanwhile, the INEC said it is putting measures in place to address glitches arising from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System in order to ensure a smooth electoral process.
The Head of Department, Voter Education in INEC, Rivers State, Geraldine Ekelemo, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen during an inspection tour of some participating LGAs in the Senatorial District alongside the INEC National Commissioner representing the South-South, May Agbamu he-Mbu.
Ekelemu said INEC made provisions for backup B-VAS machines, saying the devices can be reconfigured in cases where the primary B-VAS malfunctions.
She said, “Concerning the hitches, INEC was proactive. The technical hitches that we saw with one or two polling units and the B-VAS assigned to that particular polling unit, INEC was proactive in ensuring that backup B-VAS were supplied and distributed to each of these LGAs.
“And we had technical staff on the ground in each of these LGAs to quickly reconfigure another B-VAS to replace the malfunctioning B-VAS.
“Each of the seven LGAs had additional B-VAS to serve as backups. These are all the things INEC is doing to ensure that those gaps are immediately closed.”
