Benue speaker defeats deputy governor to clinch PDP guber ticket

Titus Uba, speaker of the Benue house of assembly, has won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket for the state.

The election was held at the Aper Aku Stadium in Makurdi, the Benue capital.

Uba polled 731 votes to defeat his closest rival, Benson Abounu, Benue deputy governor, who scored 81 votes.

The speaker won 21 out of the 23 LGAs in the state.

A total of 851 delegates voted at the Benue governorship primary.

Fourteen persons had indicated their interest to contest the primary, but eight of the aspirants had withdrawn from the race.

Meanwhile, in Enugu, Peter Mba, commissioner for finance during the administration of Chimaroke Nnamani, won the party’s governorship ticket.

According to NAN, Mba polled 790 votes to defeat other aspirants — Chijioke Edeoga who got nine votes, Chinyeaka Ohaa who secured three votes and Chukwunta Gilbert who had one vote.

Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy president of the the senate, had earlier on Wednesday announced his decision to withdraw from the race.

Zik Sunday, chairman of the Enugu PDP governorship primary electoral committee, who announced the result, described the process as “transparent, credible and peaceful”.

In his acceptance speech, Mba said his vision for the state is to “bring transformation and build on the success of the current administration”.