The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Mbah as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Enugu State.

Mbah polled 160,895 votes slightly above his closest rivals — Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party (LP) who scored 157,552 and Uche Nnaji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who got 14,575 votes, amongst others.

“That Mbah Peter Ndubuisi of Peoples Democratic Party, having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” declared the Returning Officer, Prof Maduebibisi Ofo-Iwe, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike.

Mbah is the anointed candidate of the incumbent governor and PDP G5 member, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi whose two terms of eight years end on May 29, 2023.

Mbah’s victory comes hours after the electoral umpire declared LP’s Alex Otti as the governor-elect in neighbouring Abia State.

The final collation of governorship election results on Wednesday evening resumed in Enugu and Abia over 48 hours after INEC suspended the exercise in the South-East states.

As it stands, the results of 26 of the 28 governorship elections have been announced. APC won in 15 states, PDP in nine, LP in one while the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) won Kano. The elections in Kebbi and Adamawa were declared inconclusive.

In all, the ruling APC won in 15 states, including seven re-elected governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara), Inuwa Yahaya (Gombe), Mai Mala Muni (Yobe), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Babagana Zulum (Borno).

The party also secured wins for eight new candidates: Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Bassey Otu (Cross River), Mohammed Bago (Niger), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), and Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi).

On the other hand, the PDP secured nine victories including two reelected governors: Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi).

Seven first-term governors were also elected on the platform of the opposition party. They are Peter Mbah (Enugu), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Siminialayi Fubara (Rivers), Kefas Agbu (Taraba), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), and Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta).

In a historic win, PDP’s Dauda Lawal unseated Zamfara State Governor and APC powerbroker in Zamfara, Bello Matawalle.

In a similar fashion, Abba Kabir of the NNPP unseated the APC in Kano State while LP’s Alex Otti won Abia which had been a PDP state in the last eight years.