By: Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo

Celebrations enveloped Uyo the Akwa Ibom State capital yesterday after the declaration of Governor Udom Emmanuel as the winner of the governorship election in arguably the most credible election supervised by the former civil rights activist, Mr. Mike Igini.

Udom Emmanuel, Governor Akwa Ibom State

Governor Emmanuel, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was yesterday formally declared as the winner of the Akwa Ibom governorship election. He polled a total of 519,712 votes to defeat his closest rival Obong Nsima Ekere of the All Progressives Congress, APC who polled a total of 171,978 votes out of a total of 712, 037 votes cast.

Emmanuel won convincingly in 30 out 31 local government areas of the state despite voter apathy that marred the exercise given the intimidation that preceded the contest.

Observers were indeed shocked that the APC came off worse, despite its earlier reference to the use federal might to oust the PDP out of the state at all cost.

Some had predicted ahead of the General Election that the chances of the two major political parties in the state would be 50-50 given the defection of the former governor of the state and former Senate Minority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio to the APC.

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Many, particularly APC stakeholders had expected that Akpabio as a renowned political gladiator would make the difference for his new party, APC, given his antecedents in the PDP.

And there were others who had expressed the fear ahead of the presidential and National assembly polls held on February, 23 that the PDP would lose due to the fact that the APC is now in control at the centre and that federal might would be easily used to influence results.

The visit of APC chieftains including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and National Chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomole to the state immediately after Buhari’s victory compounded such fears.

And the utterances of APC nation leaders promising to reclaim the mandate stolen by the PDP forced supporters of the PDP to quickly conclude that there was something ‘suspicious’ about the visit considering their claim and promise to reclaim their stolen mandate in the state during the presidential and National Assembly polls.

However, such fears were seriously downplayed by the outcome of the February 23 elections that saw the APC score zero in all three Senate and ten federal constituency elections.

The morale among PDP supporters and stakeholders became high after that election and energised them entering last Saturday’s poll.

Observers, however, credit Governor Emmanuel’s victory to the vigorous campaign he embarked upon to sell himself and the achievements of his government in the first term.

The majority of Akwa Ibom people are quick to conclude that Nsima Ekere and his associates, as well as the national leadership of the APC overrated Akpabio’s political relevance in the state and that, may have contributed immensely to the failure of the party.

The support of the majority of Akwa Ibom people for Governor Emmanuel was one of the major factors that contributed to his success at the poll.

The people were moved by the development strides of the administration and especially the industrialisation schemes of the government.

Even more, the regime of space that has enveloped the state since the advent of the administration was also a factor.

The integrity and transparency displayed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, in the state under the Resident Electoral Commission, REC, Mr. Mike Igini throughout the electoral process has also been seen as another factor that allowed the peoples vote to count.

Barr Mfon Peters, State Legal Adviser of Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC in an interview with Vanguard described the 2019 election as the most credible in the history of the state.

“First I thank the Almighty God, second I give it to Mr. Mike Igini. When he told us that he was going to conduct transparent and credible election some of us never believed him. Today we celebrate him because this election is the best and that is why we (IPAC) are saying everybody should accept the verdict of this election because Akwa Ibom people have spoken.

“If not for Igini we will not have had this successful election in Akwa Ibom state. The APC started fighting him and started to agitate for his removal even before the presidential and National Assembly election.