By IKURU LIZZY

Mr Erastus Awortu, chairmanship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Andoni local area council has emerged winner in the just concluded council poll having pulled the highest number of 107,658 votes.

Mr Michael Blessed, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) Returning Officer, made the declaration on Saturday shortly after results collation in Ngo town, headquarters of the local government area.

The returning officer stated that the election was keenly contested and all the party agents were also on ground to monitor the process.

“The result were as follows: total votes cast was 115,776, total valid votes was 113,776 and invalid votes was 1,487.

“Results breakdown showed that Accord party had 34 votes, ADP 741, AAC 26, ADC 287, APM 59 votes.

“Others are, LP- 4207 votes, PDP-107,658 votes, SDP-247 and 471 votes for ZLP.

“From the results, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has the highest votes amounting to 107,658 votes and returned winner.

“I Mr Michael Blessed, by the powers bestowed on me as the Returning Officer of Andoni local government area has announced the results of the local government election today April 17, 2021,” he stated.

The Returning Officer thanked voters, the security and other sister agencies for a peaceful conduct during the exercise.

“I want to thank voters in Andoni because they’ve proved to the world that Andoni is not a volatile area as perceived.

“From information gathered before coming to the field of election, one would think that there would be serious chaos but that was not the situation as all process ended peacefully,” he said.

In his acceptance speech, the Chairman elect, Awortu, thanked the people for demonstrating confidence in him and promised to honor the tenets of local government administration throughout his tenure.

“I feel very elated, I am actually not surprised that I won especially, having campaigned vigorously reading out my manifesto, I know, I would emerge winner.

“But what baffled me was the level of support I enjoyed from my people during the campaign which has also fairly manifested in the number of votes for me.

“This overwhelming support has indeed placed a burden on me, I will strive relentlessly towards repaying the people of their confidence irrespective of political affiliations,” he said. (NAN)

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