Labour Party Holds Primary Elections In Abia As Gov. Otti, Other Candidates Emerge

The Abia State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has conducted its primary elections for the 2027 Governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly candidates with Alex Otti emerging as the gubernatorial candidate, scoring a total of 368,230 votes.

Speaking at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia, venue of the State Collation Centre, after being declared as the Governorship candidate by the National Organising Secretary of the Labour Party and Returning Officer of the primary elections in Abia State, Alex Otti said that having been elected as candidates, the job of fighting to win elections have just started.

“I want to also call our attention to the fact that the job has just started. This crosses you to where you need to start fighting from.

“If you were not a candidate, then you can’t fight. But now that you are a candidate, you know, election is contention. You have to contend with yourself. Don’t kid yourself to say no fight. It’s a contention. At the end of the day, the best person must win. And it’s only one person that will win.

“So, a lot of our candidates have already done elections before, won those elections. So, you are going to actually do better. If you look at the number of people that came out for the primaries, you will find that it was twice the total number of votes that we got the last time.

“And this is just Labour Party. There are a lot of people who don’t belong to parties who you need to now go out and talk to and convince them to either join the party or at least vote for members of the party,” Otti stated.

Otti thanked the election primary committee for conducting the election, the INEC monitoring team, and congratulated all the candidates that emerged.

“I would like to accept this nomination. And I accept it because we know that we still have a lot collectively to deliver, to Abians, and of course, Nigeria.

The State Chief Executive appreciated the manner in which the election was conducted. “There was no rancour, there was no violence anywhere.

“All the disagreements that could have happened have been dealt with even before today. And that’s why we had a very smooth primary across board.

“And I want to thank our leaders who sat down here in the last several weeks trying to resolve problems and disagreements between us that led to consensus candidates in virtually every constituency,” Otti stated .

The Governor however used the opportunity to announce the sad demise of the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Zone 9, Kanayo Uzuegbu, who the Commissioner of Police, Abia State Command just confirmed to him of the death, after the efforts of the State to save his life.

Otti who described the AIG as a very good man regretted the death and directed that a minute of silence be observed on his behalf.

Presenting the certificate of Return to the Governor, the National Secretary of the Labour Party, Hon. Acho Obioma, while congratulating the Governor and other candidates on their emergence, said that “This is the beginning of the next phase of governorship in Abia State.

He said that Abians are happy with the leadership of Alex Otti and assured that he would be consolidating on his achievements.

Declaring the results earlier, the National Organising Secretary of the Labour Party and Returning Officer, Opara disclosed that the Governor polled 368,230 votes and informed those present that the election was by direct primaries.

Opara further noted that the primary elections were done in compliance with the party’s constitution and the INEC’s electoral guidelines and congratulated the Governor and other candidates that emerged.

Other candidates that emerged were, Enyinnaya Abairibe, Darlington Nwokocha and David Onuoha for Abia South, Abia Central and Abia North senatorial zones respectively.

For the Federal House of Representatives, the winners are Obi Aguocha – Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South, Ginger Onwusibe – Isialangwa North /South, Amobi Ogah – Isuikwuato /Umunneochi, Alex Ikwechegh – Aba North and South, Ibe Okwara Osonwa – Arochukwu – Ohafia , Chima Anyaso – Bende, was the most prominent, Ugochukwu Adịnigwe – Ukwa East/West and Wambu Chiemela Obingwa/ Osisioma/Ugwunagbo .

For the 24 State Constituencies; Ikwuano State constituency – Isienyi Boniface; Bende South State constituency – Okorie Edwin; Arochukwu State constituency – Okoro Kalu; Bende North State constituency – Ibekwe Chimdi; Isiala Ngwa North State constituency – Iheonuneku Collins; Isiala Ngwa South State constituency – Roland Chinwendu; Isiukwato State constituency – Lucky Johnson; Obingwa West State constituency, Onwubiko Victoria; Ohafia South State constituency, – Kalu Nwoke; Obingwa East State constituency – Kelechi Ebere; Ohafia North State constituency – Mkpa Uka; Osisioma North State constituency – Nwogu Emmanuel; Osisioma South State constituency – Ahuama Fyne; Ugwunagbo State constituency – Uruakpa Chijioke; Ukwa East State constituency – Obiani Chinemerem; Ukwa West State constituency, Akukanna Chiemeka; Umahia Central State constituency – Anthony Abiola; Umuahia East State constituency, Augustine Merigini; Umuahia North State constituency, Akaliro Anderson; Umuahia South State constituency – Obioma Emeka; Umunneochi State constituency – Umeh Martias; Aba Central State constituency – Ucheonye Akachukwu; Aba North State constituency – Ehuchie Ijeoma-Florence, and Aba South State constituency – Emmanuel Emeruwa.

The INEC officials led by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Silvia Agu and other independent observers were present to observe the declaration of the Labour Party primary elections results from across the State.

Earlier in the day, the Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, accompanied by his amiable wife, Priscilla Otti participated in the well organized and attended Labour Party primary election in his local ward at Isialangwa south Local Government before joining some members of the National and State Working Committee including other Labour Party faithful at the collation centre in Umuahia, where he was issued the Labour Party Governorship certificate of return to contest in the 2027 Governorship election in Abia State.