Peter Mbah, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Enugu State governorship election, has been declared the winner of the poll. The announcement came on Wednesday after the controversial results from Nkanu East Local Government Area were collated. INEC State Collation and Returning Officer Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, who also serves as Vice‑Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike, announced that Mbah secured 160,895 votes, defeating Labour Party candidate Chijioke Edeoga, who obtained 157,552 votes. Iwe stated, “Mbah of the PDP, having scored the highest number of votes cast and having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.” He also provided the election statistics: Enugu State has 2,112,793 registered voters, 381,971 of whom were accredited. Valid votes totalled 358,463, with 9,088 rejected votes, bringing the total votes cast to 367,551.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had suspended the collation of results and the declaration of a winner on Monday after allegations of over‑voting and result manipulation emerged in Nkanu East and Nsukka Local Government Areas. Labour Party State Agent Dr. Eugene Edeoga raised objections during the collation of local government results, claiming that the Nkanu East figures were heavily padded to favor the PDP candidate and should be cancelled. Subsequently, PDP State Collation Agent Dr. Festus Uzo made similar allegations regarding Nsukka, where the Labour Party candidate was reportedly leading by over 30,000 votes. Following protests from supporters of both parties, INEC’s national headquarters halted the collation to review the disputed LGAs.
On Wednesday night, Returning Officer Prof. Iwe reported that INEC had resolved the issues in Nsukka and Nkanu East. The petition against Nsukka was overruled, but the petition concerning Nkanu East was sustained. INEC found over‑voting in Nkanu East and reduced the PDP’s tally from 30,350 to 16,956 votes; the Labour Party’s count was adjusted from 1,855 to 1,864 votes. Iwe called on the Nkanu East collation officer to submit the revised results. Dr. Eugene Edeoga responded, expressing relief that the Nsukka case was not sustained but questioning why the penalty for over‑voting and the non‑use of BVAS in Nkanu East was not a cancellation, as stipulated by the rules. The returning officer reiterated that the decision rested with the electoral commission.
With the adjusted Nkanu East results, the PDP candidate now leads in nine local government areas, while Labour Party candidate Edeoga leads in eight. The LGAs won by PDP candidate Peter Mbah include: Udi (13,633 vs. LP 10,109), Ezeagu (7,576 vs. LP 5,949), Aninri (6,520 vs. LP 3,431), Uzo‑Uwani (7,298 vs. LP 5,257), Enugu South (10,557 vs. LP 7,438), Awgu (10,668 vs. LP 5,462), Nkanu West (8,382 vs. LP 2,577), and Nkanu East (16,956 vs. LP 1,855). Labour Party victories were recorded in Enugu East (12,803 vs. PDP 12,405), Igbo‑Eze North (9,955 vs. PDP 8,738), Igbo‑Etiti (11,941 vs. PDP 8,959), Oji River (7,747 vs. PDP 7,365), Isi‑Uzo (12,518 vs. PDP 6,381), Nsukka (30,294 vs. PDP 10,886), Enugu North (9,610 vs. PDP 9,333), Igbo‑Eze South (9,680 vs. PDP 4,691), and Udenu (Labour 11,315 vs. PDP 10,148).
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