Delta guber poll: Okowa leads in 12 out of 13 LGAs declared so far by INEC

* as APC’s Ogboru rejects poll results

Following Saturday’s governorship election held in Delta state, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and incumbent governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, is leading in 12 local governments while his arch rival, Chief Great Ogboru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has won in one.

According to results being declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chief Returning Officer in the state, Prof Seth Accra Jaja flanked by the INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dr Cyril Omorogbe in Asaba, Ogboru has won in Ethiope East LG while Okowa has won in Ukwuani, Ethiope West, Okpe, Patani, Ika South, Ika North-East, Oshimili North, Oshimili South, Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Isoko South, and Isoko North.

Meanwhile, the State Agent of the APC, Barr. Turner Ogboru has called for the outright cancellation of the results being announced, claiming alleged voting.

He pointed out that contrary to the INEC’s rule on the card reader, the process was bypassed and manual accreditation and authentication via incident forms were adopted in all the LGAs already announced by INEC.

He reiterated the irregularities that produced wide difference between card reader accredited number of votes from the announced votes, describing them as “bogus and overloading” and insisted that the entire votes be cancelled.

But in a swift reaction, the State Returning Officer, Prof Jaja said: “We are not here to entertain arguments but to enter the records of all the good and bad votes as they were”, while noting the oral protest.

“We cannot play the role of the Judiciary or Executive in this matter. We have done our work to collate and announce the results.

“Parties are at liberty to forward their petitions to the relevant quarters; in this case, the tribunal”, Prof Jaja explained.

Meanwhile results as announced by INEC were as follow:

Ukwuani

PDP – 18,328

APC – 7,264

Ethiope East

APC – 21,141

PDP – 11,489

Ethiope West

PDP – 62,044

APC – 6,211

Okpe

PDP – 20,415

APC – 9,424

Patani

PDP – 19,683

APC – 3,288

Ika South

PDP – 33,371

APC – 3,877

Ika North-East

APC – 2,303

PDP – 67,417

Oshimili North

PDP – 37,744

APC – 2,906

Oshimili South

PDP – 54,766

APC – 2,700

Aniocha North

PDP – 17,054

APC – 4,653

Aniocha South

PDP- 25,031

APC – 3,138

Isoko South

PDP – 43,730

APC – 14,259

Isoko North

PDP – 29,648

APC – 9,817