TheCable

Alex Otti, the Abia governor-elect, has thanked residents of the state for their support during the elections.

Otti was declared the winner on Wednesday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the resumption of the collation of results.

On Monday, the electoral body suspended the collation of results in Abia after thugs invaded its office in Obingwa LGA.

The assailants held the INEC officials hostage before they were released, prompting the electoral commission to call for a review of the process.

At the time collation was halted, Otti was reportedly in the lead after garnering over 80,000 votes.

After the collation of the outstanding results from Obingwa LGA, Otti polled 175,467 to defeat Okey Ahiwe, his closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 88,529 votes.

The victory is the first for the LP in the March 18 governorship election across the federation.

Hours after his declaration as the governor-elect, Otti said his new responsibility would be to duly serve residents of Abia.

“With deep humility and a profound sense of responsibility, I wholeheartedly accept your mandate to be your chief servant for the next 4 years,” he tweeted.

With deep humility and a profound sense of responsibility, I wholeheartedly accept your mandate to be your chief servant for the next 4 years. pic.twitter.com/pyTwgvrXvv

— Alex Otti (@alexottiofr) March 22, 2023

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On Tuesday, Otti had called on INEC to declare the results of the election to ease tension in the state.