Ernest Chinwo
25 August 2008
Calabar — True to the expectation in informed political circles, Senator Liyel Imoke, whose election as Governor of Cross River State was cancelled last month by the court, has reclaimed the seat.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last night declared him winner of last Saturday's rerun election ordered by the Court of Appeal.
Imoke won a clear victory at the poll allegedly greeted by low voter turn out.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, had on July 15 voided Imoke's election and ordered INEC to conduct a fresh governorship poll in the state within 90 days.
As soon as news of Imoke's victory filtered into Calabar Metropolis around 6.30pm, the town erupted in wild jubilation and celebration.
Imoke's supporters went on the streets while operators of commercial motorcycles popularly called Okada also began hooting their horns in celebration.
According to the results announced by INEC's Returning Officer for the poll, Josiah Chukwudi Uwazur-uonye, Imoke polled a total of 650,723 votes to reclaim his seat.
He defeated other contestants namely Dr. Paul Ukpo of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) who polled 15,734 and Mr. James Ebri of the African Renaissance Party (ARP) who scored 1,951.
Other results are as follows; Action Congress, 512 votes; African Democratic Congress (ADC), 1,103 votes; All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), 1,922; Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), 1,952; National Democratic Party (NDP), 1,404 and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) polled 2,072 votes.
Although there were no formal statements of withdrawal, the candidates of NDP, AC, ADC and APGA were believed to have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while DPP and PPA candidates did not show any interest in contesting the rerun poll at all.
Declaring the election results, Uwazuruonye said Imoke scored the highest number of votes cast and satisfied all the conditions set by law to be declared governor.
He then declared Imoke elected as governor of the state.
Uwazuruonye said there were 1,123,596 registered voters and that the total number of votes cast was 694,855 out of which 13,749 were voided.
In his reaction, the new Governor-elect thanked the people of the state for voting him in again, saying he was rededicating himself to the service of the state.
"I am very, very humble in victory and I am encouraged by this support to put in more to serve the people. I want to commend INEC for conducting a free and fair election," he said.
Speaking to newsmen in Calabar, Imoke described the election as the most transparent and peaceful in the history of the state,
He also expressed satisfaction with the margin of his votes over those of his opponents, stating that this meant that the people of the state have confidence in the PDP government.
"It has served to strengthen us and all Cross Riverians. It has strengthened our resolve to serve our people and to do even better than we did before. We are not going to have any excuses because we now have total support of the people," he said.
Imoke said the PDP was getting stronger and stronger because the government under the party had been very accommodating of other parties who were not in power.
On whether he would make changes in his cabinet when he assumes office, Imoke said, "governance is about serving the people and there are going to be changes when necessary; governance is not about who gets what."
Also reacting to the results, the President of People United to Serve Humanity (PUSH)-Africa and leader of a group of international observers that monitored the poll, Mr. Ibrahim Baba, described the election as the most transparent election in the country.
He expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the poll by INEC and wished the trend would continue.
The Head of the Civil Society Liaison Unit of INEC, Dr. Chukwudi Odekpe, also said the election was free and fair.
According to him, "This is the most peaceful election so far. No snatching of ballot boxes. Materials arrived early and elections started as early as 8 am in some places."
He said he was impressed that unlike what obtained in some places, women were voting side by side with men.
He called on losers in the election to accept their defeat in good faith and work with the winner for the development of the state.
The INEC National Commissioner who supervised the election, Mr. Setley Daza, said the commission was committed to conducting free and fair elections and was now using only its regular staff for the conduct of elections instead of ad hoc staff.
To demonstrate its transparency, he said the commission had also introduced live coverage of collation and declaration of results while the distribution of materials were now done in the presence of party agents who are also given the serial numbers of materials used.
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the courts that nullified the earlier election in this state, did an incomplete job. they could have banned PDP PROPERTY DIVIDING PARTY, and this candidate, from participating in this re-run. i bet u guys, the election was rigged again. there was no foreign observer. no new blood. this is a man wanted by the EFCC and the wanted man is now a governor. shame on u guys, EFCC, the judiciary and we, docile nigerians. i am as usual, capital G.C.