The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has won the governorship election in Enugu State.

Ugwuanyi, a member of the House of Representatives, defeated his closest rival, Okey Ezea of the All Progressives Congress with a wide margin, after winning in all the 17 local government areas in the state, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

However, the APC has called for the cancellation of the result of the governorship election.

The governorship candidate of the APC, Ezea, who addressed journalists at his campaign office in company with the party’s chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye, alleged that the poll was marred by irregularities and violence perpetrated by the PDP.

The APC urged INEC to conduct a fresh election in the state.

Ezea, who had lost to the PDP in previous governorship polls, said, “Every four years we are made to believe that there will be free and fair elections. We put in all our efforts and resources but at the end of the day, we find out that the election is nothing but a scam.

“The supposed election of yesterday (Saturday) was nothing but a sham.

“It was marred by electoral violence, intimidation, harassment, ballot box snatching and physical injuries to APC sympathisers by PDP thugs.”

Ezea further alleged that Ugwuanyi and the PDP “imported more than 5,000 thugs into Enugu State, particularly in the Nsukka area” during the election.

He added that INEC’s directive that voting should not take place in places, where result sheets were not available, was not complied with.

According to him, INEC officials sold result sheets to the PDP.

“At the end of the day, we found out that the result sheets were actually sold out before the election.

“INEC sold more than half of the PVCs in Enugu State to the PDP,” he added.

Ezea alleged that “there was a deliberate policy” to ensure that voting did not take place in his village.

He claimed that thugs hired by the PDP broke the head of his elder brother while carting away ballot materials at his ward in Itchi village.

“As far as we are concerned, there was no election in Enugu State and we call on INEC to conduct a fresh election,” he stressed.

-Punch