At about 5:08 a.m., a party agent was forcefully taken out of the State Collation Centre by some security officials.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun the collation of results for the 2023 Imo State governorship election.

The returning officer for the election, Abayomi Fasina, the vice-chancellor of the Federal University in Oye, Ekiti State, who led the procedure, began at 2:40 a.m. on Sunday at the collation centre in Owerri.

The results are being compiled hours after the conclusion of voting in the state.

However, there was a rowdy session at the collation centre with some agents of political parties kicking against the hurried collation.

"Why are you in a hurry to collate?" one of the party agents shouted repeatedly.

Agents of other political parties called for the suspension of the collation until allegations of electoral malpractices raised by some candidates were resolved.

But Mr Farina, a professor, insisted that the collation must go on.

At about 5:08 a.m., a party agent was forcefully bundled out of the State Collation Centre by some security officials.

The collation has since commenced and was ongoing at the time of this report.