Announcing the results in Awka, the Returning Officer, Prof. Charles Esimone, said Ngige polled 69,765 votes to defeat former Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili of All Progressive Grand Alliance, who scored 69,292 votes.
Reacting to the victory, Ngige, who waited at the Awka South INEC office where the results were announced, described his victory as that of the whole state.
The re-run was conducted as a result of the inconclusiveness of the election in seven wards in the zone on April 9.
While declaring the election as inconclusive on April 11, Esimone announced that the APGA candidate polled 66,263 votes while Ngige scored 65,576 votes and Annie Okonkwo of the Peoples Democratic Party got 19,999 votes.
Meanwhile, Akunyili on Wednesday said she would not congratulate Ngige because he did not win by fair means.
Akunyili, who spoke to journalists at her Agulu home in Anambra State, said the rerun was fraught with violence, intimidation and rigging, which denied her many supporters the opportunity to vote.
“If Ngige had won a free and fair contest without rigging, without intimidation and without violence, I would have congratulated him yesterday night and not even this morning,” Akunyili said.
“I feel pained by what happened yesterday not because I was not declared winner, but because of the level of violence and intimidation that took place,” she stressed.
The APGA candidate, who said she reported the happenings at the rerun centres to the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, said, “The governor told me that he had the capacity to match force with force, but that he would not do so because it would lead to bloodshed.”
She however said that in spite of the pain of losing the election through unfair means, she was not bitter about it. “I wish everybody luck and God’s choicest blessings,” she added.
The former minister said she would proceed on a vacation to spend time with her family.
She said she would later consult with the Anambra State Governor, her party, and her family to decide on what next line of action to take.
By Emmanuel Obe with agency report Courtesy Of: Punch
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