The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Hon. Amakoromo Waikumo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) the winner of the Yenagoa Constituency II House of Assembly rerun held on Saturday.
Waikumo polled a total of 5,959 votes to beat his closest rival, Hon. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 5,263 votes.
Declaring the result at the INEC Collation Centre, Okolobiri, the Returning Officer, Prof. Chris Onyema, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, said the APGA candidate scored the highest number of votes and was declared the winner of the court-ordered rerun for Yenagoa Constituency II.
Recall that before being ordered to rerun in seven units of the constituency by the Court of Appeal, the APGA candidate had 4,971 votes while the PDP got 4,593 during the March 2023 State House of Assembly election.
The votes scored by the candidates at the just-concluded rerun poll were added to what they scored during last year’s election with the APGA again emerging victorious and truncating the third term ambition of Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai of the PDP for the state House of Assembly.
Koku-Obiyai, then incumbent lawmaker and Chief Whip of the House of Assembly, rejected the result of the poll over alleged irregularities and malpractices in some polling units and therefore headed for court.
The court ordered a rerun in seven polling units in Gbarain and Ekpetiama.
The conclusion of the rerun poll in the affected polling units has resolved the contention for the constituency 2 seat in the 24-member House or Assembly.
