Imo: Uzodinma Secures Second Term Victory As Governor In A Landslide

By Ayodele Oni

Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared winner of the Saturday, November 11, 2023 Governorship election in Imo State.

In an unprecedented victory, the Governor, who contested for a second term in office, won massively in all the 27 Local Government Areas of the State.

With a total vote of  540,308, the Governor beat his closest rivals, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, popular as Samdaddy of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Chief Athan Achonu of the Labour Party, LP, to a very distant second and third places, respectively.

While Anyanwu scored 71,503 votes, Achonu scored 64, 081. Both men were defeated in their Local Government Areas.

18 Candidates contested for the Governorship election, but aside from Uzodimma, Anyanwu and Achonu, the others made little or no impact, and could easily be classified as “the also ran.”

The Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor, Federal University Oye-Ekiti,  Professor Fashina Abayomi, who declared Uzodimma winner, at INEC State Headquarters in Owerri. He said Governor  Uzodimma scored the majority of lawful votes cast and met the constitutional requirement

With the declaration, Senator Uzodimma has been re-elected for a second term in office, and will take his Oath of Office on January 15, 2024.

Agents of the major opposition parties were not available to sign the result sheets as they had staged a walk out over the refusal of the Returning Officer to review the results, which they claimed were at variance with the results uploaded on the bimodal voter accreditation system.

HReport says the State is generally calm while  supporters of the APC were seen celebrating the unprecedented victory.