Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Umahi, has won the primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Ebonyi South senatorial district.
Okay.ng recalls that the Governor had alleged that the senatorial candidate of the party in the zone, Ann Agom-Eze, was embarking on a “campaign of calumny against him, to curry cheap sympathy from unsuspecting members of the public.”
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the governor polled 250 votes to emerge victorious at the fresh election for the senatorial zone held on Sunday.
The election which took place at the Afikpo North Local Government Headquarters witnessed the heavy presence of security operatives, APC supporters, and journalists, among others.
Announcing the results, the Chairman of the Electoral Panel for APC Ebonyi South Senatorial District Election, Professor Emmanuel Adebayo, declared Governor Umahi as the winner having scored the highest number of votes in the poll.
Professor Adebayo explained that said five contestants participated in the fresh primary election of the party, while a total of 275 votes were cast out of which 268 were valid while the remaining seven were invalid.
In his reaction after he was declared winner, Governor Umahi thanked the entire people of Ebonyi State for the opportunity given to him to secure the party’s ticket.
The fresh election took place after the Abakaliki Division of the Federal High Court had struck out a suit by Governor Umahi seeking to be recognised as the APC candidate for Ebonyi South senatorial district.
Following that pronouncement, Justice Fatun Riman ordered a fresh primary election to produce the APC candidate for the senatorial zone within 14 days.
The governor was among several others who picked the presidential nomination and expression of interest forms of the APC sold at N100 million.
Among others who also pick the forms were the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.
Following the victory of a chieftain of the party, Bola Tinubu, in the primary, reports emerged that Governor Umahi had purchased the APC nomination and expression of interest forms for the Ebonyi South senatorial election.
Amid controversy that the Electoral Act does not allow for the purchase of such forms at the same time, he stressed that the presidential primary had concluded way before he joined the senatorial race.
Governor Umahi would later win the rerun primary election conduct in line with the order of the court.
