It is official. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has suffered a humiliating defeat, losing to Okey Ezea of the Labour Party in the Senatorial election held in Enugu North Senatorial zone on Saturday.
Also, Governor Ben Ayade got his own dose of humiliation in bid to return to the Senate following as he was defeated by the incumbent Senator representing Cross River North, Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe.
Ezea defeated Governor Ugwuanyi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the result of the election announced by the returning officer, Professor Chukwuemeka Ubaka, early on Monday morning.
The declared results shows that Ezea polled 104, 492 votes against Ugwuanyi’s 46, 948 votes. The APC candidate, Eze Simon came third with 6,816 votes.
Ayade who was in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, lost the election with 56,595 votes against Agom-Jarigbe’s 76,145 votes.
The returning officer, Dr Emmanuel Emanghe, who spoke on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the result of the polls around 3:05 a.m. on Monday.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Agom-Jarigbe, a two-time member of the House of Representatives, was elected into the Senate through a bye-election in September 2021 following the death of Dr Rose Okoh.
However, the re-elected Senator could not be issued with the Declaration Form after his declaration by the returning officer.
Upon demand for the Declaration Form, Agom-Jarigbe was told that it was mistakenly taken to Obudu by the electoral body in the state.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Gabriel Yomere, who spoke on phone said, “the form was mistakenly taken to Obudu but he can be issued with a temporary one pending when the original one will be brought.”
Meanwhile, Godwin Offiono of the PDP was returned and elected for the Ogoji/Yala Federal Constituency election.
Offiono defeated the incumbent lawmaker representing the area, Mr Jude Ngaji of the All Progressives Congress, by 36,651 votes to 32,973 votes.
The Ogoja/Yala Federal constituency result was announced by Dr Wakasor Ofem.