The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the winners in 24 out of the 28 states where the governorship elections took place on Saturday March 18th. Out of the 24 states that have been announced, the Labour Party has not won any.
This is coming as a surprise to many, considering the fact that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, won in 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the February 25th presidential election, and many were hoping that the Labour Party would probably win the governorship elections in some of those states that Obi won. But unfortunately, that has not been the case.
The Labour Party’s hopes of producing a governor or governors in the elections are now hanging on two states – Abia and Enugu. And the electoral body is yet to declare the results of those states.
On Monday, during the collation of results from the two states, INEC had announced the suspension of the collation exercise in those two states.
In the report which was made by the INEC spokesman, Festus Okoye, he said that it should be recalled that their office in Obingwa Local Government Area was invaded by thugs on Sunday March 19th, and the INEC officials there were held hostage in relation to the collation of results from the LGA. He said that similar reports they had from Enugu State called for the review of the results from Nsukka and Nkanu East Local Government Areas of the state.
The Labour Party had tackled the electoral body for suspending the collation of the results in those states. The National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, in a statement he released, claimed that there was a plot to upturn the results of Abia and Enugu states, but vowed that the party would resist it. He said that if the issues are not addressed, the party would be left with no choice than to mobilize the Obidients to take over the streets of the country.
Below is a screenshot of Julius Abure’s statement by Channels Television:
In his reaction to the issue, Peter Obi expressed disappointment over the release of the results of the two states, and called on INEC to accelerate action on the issue.
(Photo grid of Peter Obi, Chijioke Edeoga and Alex Otti).
According to Channels Television, before the suspension of the collation of results in Abia and Enugu, the Labour Party was having an impressive run in those two states. In Abia State, the Labour Party candidate, Alex Otti had already won 10 out of the 17 local government areas in the state, and many were already seeing him as the person to replace the incumbent governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu.
In Enugu State, the Labour Party candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mbah Ndubuisi, were far ahead of the other candidates.
So, as it stands, those are the two states that the Labour Party is now hoping to produce governors.
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