The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has won the chairmanship seats of the 13 local government areas of Ebonyi State in the last Saturday local council polls.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the party also won all the councillorship seats in the 171 wards of the state.
Mr. Jossy Eze, Chairman of the state Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) announced this yesterday at the commission’s headquarters in Abakaliki while declaring the result of the polls.
According to him, seven political parties participated in the elections out of the 40 registered parties in the state including the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC)
“The other parties which contested in the elections included African Democratic Party (ADC), African Peoples Party (APA) Merger Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP) Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP).
“The PDP’s candidate in Abakaliki Local Government Area, Emmanuel Nwangele, won with 65,036 votes; Ogbonnaya Oko-Enyim won in Afikpo LGA with 55,808, Eni Uduma-Chima-Afikpo South 50,894; Juliet Nwaogbaga – Ebonyi, 54,527 and Nora Aloh – Ezza North, 58,423 votes.
“The PDP candidate in Ezza South LGA, Sunday Ogodo, won with 50,576 votes, John Nnabo – Ikwo, 77,132; Henry Eze -Ishiellu, 68,263, Ude Ogbonnaya – Ivo, 28,787; Paul Nwogha – Izzi, 84,088, Clement Odaa – Ohaukwu,84,088, Nkechi Iyioku – Ohaozara, 55,698 and Felix Igboke – Onicha,59,698 votes,” he said.
Eze declared that the APC trailed in a distant second position with an accumulated 5,900 votes while most of the other parties did not record a single vote in most local government areas.
He commended the electorate, party agents, security officials, observers, among other stakeholders, for ensuring a smooth and credible electoral process, noting that cases of the electoral disturbances were very minimal.
“We have been able to deliver a credible election to Ebonyi people despite inherent challenges as the state has the enviable record of conducting local government area elections in the country, every three years,” he said.
Mr. Onyekachi Nwebonyi, state PDP Chairman, congratulated the party faithful for the victory, and noted that it was an indication of what to expect in the state, in the 2019 general election.
“This resounding success has proved that PDP is the only party which viably exists in the state and we are not going to rest on our oars until such feat is repeated in 2019,” he said.
The state Chairman of the Advanced Congress for Democrats (ACD), Mr. Splendour Eze, hailed the smooth conduct of the election but regretted that his party did not participate in it.
Eze, who is the state Secretary of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), lamented that the current economic hardship in the country made most parties not to participate in the election.
“The state governor was magnanimous to offset 50 per cent of the nomination fees of N500,000 for chairmanship candidates and N100,000 for councillor positions, for registered parties in the state.
“The balance despite the subsidy was still high as it was still not within the reach of most parties,” he said.
An Election Observer from Anambra State, Miss Isabella Monye, however, disputed the high figures released by EBSIEC for the elections, noting that it did not reflect what observers witnessed in various polling units.
“During our monitoring last Saturday, we observed that the turnout for the election was poor, so I wonder where EBSIEC got these high figures from,” she said.
