By  ANAYO OKOLI
FORMER Abia State deputy governor, Comrade Chris Akomas, has emerged the governorship candidate of Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, with a pledge to emancipate the state from the doldrums it had been.

Akomas polled a total of 2188 votes to clearly beat his closest challenger, Chief Stanley Ohajuruka, who polled a total of 629 votes.

Other aspirants who participated in the election were Dr. Max Nduaguibe, who scored 74 votes and Mr. Obi Aguocha, who polled 27 votes. There were a total of 149 void votes.

Akomas lauded the primaries, which was conducted in each of the 17 local government areas of the state as “very free and fair” and gave God the glory for making him the person to fly the PPA flag in the state.

But in a swift reaction, Ohajuruka, who came second rejected the result and alleged that the election was not transparent and instantly defected to Labour Party which had already given him the ticket.

Ohajuruka said his group, now in Labour Party which he christened “the integrity group”, represented the “new face of Abia political machinery which is a total departure from the past.

However, Akomas in his reaction, said he did not see himself as winner but as “party flag bearer and a team leader” and urged those who contested against him to remain together so they could all work together to salvage the state.

In a message to those who lost to him, Akomas said: “Please, don’t go anywhere, PPA is our family. Let us work out modalities and forge ahead. We are all one formidable team.

“I most humbly appeal to you to give us the opportunity to do well for Abia together. In this race, there is no victor, no vanquished, only a flag bearer/team leader.”

“God will surely bless you as you put your experience and expertise towards the emancipation of Abia State”.

Reacting to the defection of Ohajuruka to Labour Party, despite his appeal, Akomas said  “ it was his right but I have appealed to him to remain so that we work together to save the state. It is unfortunate that he is taking that decision, but I will continue to appeal to him.”

He noted that his victory was justified because he started quite on time and reached out to all the party members in the rural areas, saying his challengers came in to the race very late.

Earlier, his Director of campaign, Prince Emeka Okafor, described Akomas’ victory as justified and said that they would go into the drawing board to map out plans and strategies to embark on the campaign to win the election.

He said Akomas was more popular than any of those who contested against him and called on those who lost to join hands with Akomas to emancipate the state from bad governance.