Magnus Abe has been declared winner of the direct primary for the 2019 Governorship election conducted by a faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party in Rivers.
The result was announced by Dr Sam Eligwe, the Returning Officer for the faction at the secretariat controlled by the faction in Port Harcourt.
According to Eligwe, Abe won with 144,929 votes..
Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, who polled 3,444 votes, came a distant second while Dr. Dawari George scored 1606 and Dr Tonye Cole got 882 votes in the results announced.
In another development, Gov Nyesom Wike of Rivers on Sunday emerged victorious as the governorship candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party [ PDP] for the 2019 general elections in Rivers.
Wike, while making an acceptance speech after emerging victorious at a PDP primary elections, thanked the delegates for electing him.
He said that he would not disappointment the people for placing their confidence in him after the general elections in 2019.
The governor said that he had embarked upon so such infrastructure development to improve the state.
He noted that he had upgraded educational facilities in the state to raise the standard of education.
Wike stressed that the State Government had also improved the health sector by constructing and furnishing general Hospitals in all the Senatorial districts in the state.
The 2019 governorship candidate for the PDP stressed that his administration had improved the security architecture in the State to attract investors.
He said that the government had made Rivers a regional Judicial hub by the rehabilitation of a Federal High court, an Appeal Court and the construction of a National Industrial Court in Port Harcourt.
Wike said that it was his administration that reopened the courts closed down during the last administration due to insecurity.
The governor stated that his administration had provided adequate road infrastructure for the people of the state.
Describing Rivers as one of the safest States in Nigeria, he noted that the reason was the massive investments he provided for the security agencies to fight crime in the state.
‘’ In the past three and half years, we have experienced tremendous economic growth as a result of our investments in the security system which has attracted local and foreign investors,’’ he added.
‘’ As a former council Chairman, a former Chief of Staff and a former Minister, I shall bring my experience to bear in the continued governance of the state,’’ Wike said.
He pledged to provide more democratic dividends for the people in his second tenure in 2019, while asking Rivers people to vote massively to return the PDP to power in 2019.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Electoral Panel and the Returning Officer of the PDP primary elections, Mr Chukwuma Chinwe, said 3,490 voters were accredited for the primary.
He noted that of the 3,490 total votes, 3,345 voted in favour of Wike as the candidate for the PDP Governorship elections in 2019 , with 9 voided votes.
Chinwe later declared Wike as the winner of the elections.
