Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State, has taken a potentially unassailable lead in the March 9 governorship election contest in the state, SaharaReporters reports.
As of Tuesday, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced results from 15 local government areas, Wike, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had polled 426,369 votes against 129,855 votes secured by Biokpomabo Awara of the African Action Congress, leaving a margin of 296,514 votes.
This lead was further extend when the commission announced four more results on Wednesday.
In Degema Local Government, Wike polled 12,133 votes to Awara’s 5,071 votes. In the 12 wards of Asari-Toru Local Government, he had 32,172 votes to Awara’s 18,945; while in the 12 wards of Ogo/Bolo Local Government, he polled 11,855 votes to Awara’s 814. The surprise of the day was in the 17 wards of Obio/Akpor Local Government, where he polled an astounding 281,164 votes to Awara’s 7,495.
These results brought Wike’s total so far to 763,603 votes while Awara has 162,180 — a margin of 601,423 votes.
The ongoing collation was temporarily suspended, and is set to resume at 3pm.
There are only four local governments left to be announced.