TheCable

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared George Sekibo, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winner of the rerun election in Rivers east senatorial district.

Oji Ekumankama, returning officer of the election, announced this at council hall, Port Harcourt, venue of the collation, on Monday.

He said Sekibo polled 93,098 votes ahead of Andrew Uchendu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had 34,193 votes.

The collation of results in the district had been put on hold for over 24 hours based on the non-arrival of electoral officials from Ikwerre and Emouha local government areas.

As of the time collation was suspended around 5:25am on Sunday, Sekibo was leading his rival with nearly 50,000 votes.

A former member of the house of representatives, Sekibo was first elected into the senate in 2007.

He won his third term bid at the upper chamber of the national assembly in March 2015, but the court of appeal sacked him on December 11, 2015.