GOVERNOR Liyel Imoke finished strong in his quest for a second term as Cross Rivers State Governor in Saturday’s election with 451,544 votes, overwhelming 11 others in the contest.
The returning officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Profesor James Epoke, declared Imoke victorious, with Usani Usani of the opposing Action Congress of Nigeria party coming a distant second with 31,206 votes.
All Nigeria’s People’s Party (ANPP) candidate, Mr. Patrick Okomiso came in third with 2,235 votes while Mrs. Ima Nsa-Adegoke of the Labour Party stole fourth with 1,922 votes.
Epoke said: “Imoke having satisfied the requirements of the law and having scored the highest number of votes is hereby the winner and returned elected.”
The election in Cross Rivers is the last of five elections recently rescheduled by the authorities. The Supreme Court, in January, had sacked five state governors, including Liyel Imoke of Cross River state and the governors of Adamawa, Bayelsa, Sokoto and Kogi states.
The court had ruled the governors had overstayed their tenures, appointed acting governors and called for fresh elections.
The polls were said to be peaceful, though some reports noted low voter turnouts. The newly elected Governor Liyel Imoke was said to have won more than 25 per cent of the votes cast in all 18 local governments of the southern Nigerian state.