Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel Wins Re-Election

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state has won re-election for a second term.

Mr Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was announced the winner of the governorship election, at about 12:27 a.m. on Monday, in Uyo by the state returning officer, Faraday Orunmwense, a professor and vice chancellor of the University of Benin.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mike Igini, was present during the announcement.

The state chairman of the PDP, Paul Ekpo,  and the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Onofiok Luke, were present in collation centre.

Mr Emmanuel defeated his main opponent, Nsima Ekere of the All Progressives Congress (APC), with 519, 712 votes.

Mr Ekere, a former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) polled 171, 978 votes, and also lost in his Ikot Abasi Local Government Area.

It was not really a tough election battle, as many people anticipated, as Mr Emmanuel won convincingly in 30 out the 31 local government areas in the state; he lost only in Essien Udim, where Godswill Akpabio, a senator from the state, comes from.

It was not also a bloody election as many had feared, except for pockets of violence here and there, in some parts of the state; no life was lost. None has been made public, at least.

The APC rejected the election and accused INEC of assisting PDP to rig the election.

The APC representative at the state collation centre, Samuel Akpan, walked out of the centre after making known his party’s rejection of the election.

Mr Emmanuel, a former director with Zenith bank, is the fourth civilian governor of Akwa Ibom State.

His campaign for re-election was anchored on his administration’s industrialisation drive and a peaceful Akwa Ibom where everyone is guaranteed the freedom for self-actualisation.

His campaign slogan, ‘only God’, had mass appeal, and almost became a movement in the state.