APC’s Prince Bassey Otu Emerges C-River Governor-elect
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Prince Bassey Edet Otu as winner of the Saturday March 18 governorship election in Cross River State.
Announcing the election results at INEC Headquarters in Calabar, the State capital, the Returning Officer, Professor Teddy Charles said having fullfiled the necessary requirements and by polling the highest number of votes the APC candidate, Prince Otu is hereby declared the winner of the governorship poll.
He said Prince Otu polled a total of 258,619 votes to defeat his closest rival, Professor Sandy Onoh of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 179,636 votes.
Giving a breakdown of votes cast during the election, Prof Charles, who is the Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Science and Technology, Otuoke in Bayelsa, said the total number of registered voters was 1,766,466, while accredited number of voters stood at 466,294.
He further explained that the number of PVCs collected where election did not take place either due to violence or snatching of electoral materials stood at 44,486, while the margin of vote difference the winner of the election and the PDP candidate who came second was 78,983.
The Returning Officer also said the margin of PVCs collected where election did not take place and the margin of vote difference between the winner and the second person demonstrate that the election has passed the litmus test of credibility and fairness.
Consequently, he declared Otu Bassey Edet of the APC as the winner of the election and governor-elect having satisfied the constitutional and other legal requirements.
Prof Charles gave the breakdown of votes recorded by other parties that sponsored candidates and participated in the governorship election as follows: AA – 405; ADC – 1620; ADP – 902; APP – 340; LP – 5,957; NRM – 441; PRP – 3,052; SDP – 628; and YPP – 333.
