By Godwin Akomah, Umuahia
After days of political logjam that left residents of Abia State in what seemed like an interminable suspense, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Wednesday, declared Alex Otti of the Labour Party(LP) winner of the March 18 governorship poll in the state.
Candidate Otti polled a total of 175, 467 votes to floor his closest rival, Chief Okey Ahiwe of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, who scored 88,529 votes while Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party, YPP, came third with 28,972 votes.
Abia has been in the firm grip of the PDP since the return of Democracy in 1999 with little to show for it in terms of development and basic social amenities.
Incidentally, it is the home state of detained Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous people of Biafra(IPOB), a separatist group which rarely criticised successive PDP administration in Abia.
Declaring Otti winner, the Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology Owerri, FUTO, Professor Nnenna Oti, subsequently declared Otti the Governor-elect having polled the highest number of votes and satisfied all necessary conditions.
