By Ayomide Otitoju
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Olaka Nwogu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District by-election held on Saturday.
Announcing the result at the senatorial collation centre in Bori, Rivers State, the Returning Officer, Prof. Rosemary Ogu, said Nwogu secured 46,961 votes to defeat his closest rival, Osarokaka Ebenezer Erewari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 1,647 votes.
The Action Alliance candidate, Douglas Fabeke, scored 1,175 votes, while the Labour Party’s Sam Kinani polled 367 votes.
Ogu declared that Nwogu, an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, met the requirements of the law and was duly returned elected.
The poll was conducted to fill the vacant seat left by the late Senator Barry Mpigi, with candidates from the PDP, APC, Action Alliance, and Labour Party contesting across seven local government areas: Khana, Gokana, Tai, Eleme, Andoni, Oyigbo, and Opobo-Nkoro.
Meanwhile, INEC said it had addressed technical challenges recorded with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) during the exercise.
The Commission explained that backup BVAS machines and technical personnel were deployed across the affected local government areas to ensure smooth accreditation, adding that minor glitches were swiftly
