June 21 (THEWILL) — The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Olaka Nwogu of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District by-election in Rivers State, following a sweeping victory in Saturday’s poll.
Announcing the official results, INEC said Nwogu secured a total of 47,961 votes, defeating candidates of other participating political parties by a wide margin across the seven local government areas that make up the senatorial district.
According to the final tally released by the electoral body, the PDP candidate polled 47,961 votes to emerge victorious, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) garnered 1,647 votes. The Action Alliance (AA) came third with 1,175 votes, while the Labour Party (LP) finished with 367 votes.
The former member of the House of Representatives contested the election under the platform of the PDP and is widely regarded as a key figure within the political structure aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
THEWILL reports that all four political parties that participated in the election — PDP, APC, AA, and LP, are part of what has become known in Rivers political circles as Wike’s “Rainbow Coalition,” a broad alliance of political interests believed to be working in concert in the state.
Sources within the coalition had earlier indicated that the alliance collectively settled on Senator-elect Olaka Nwogu as its preferred candidate ahead of the election, a development that significantly shaped the dynamics of the contest and contributed to his overwhelming performance at the polls.
The by-election was conducted to fill the vacancy created by the death of former senator representing the district, Barry Mpigi, who passed away in February, necessitating a fresh election to determine his successor in the upper legislative chamber.
Nwogu’s emergence is expected to further strengthen the influence of the Wike-backed political bloc in Rivers State.
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