Former Governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani has lost his re-election bid in Enugu East Senatorial district to Labour Party (LP) candidate, Kelvin Chukwu.
The LP candidate polled a total of 69,136 votes to defeat Chimaroke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 48, 701 votes, while the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the district, Adaku Ogbu-Aguocha, came a distant third with 8,548 votes.
Kelvin Chukwu replaced his elder brother, Oyibo Chukwu, who was murdered by gunmen a few days before the Feb. 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Oyibo’s death led to the postponement of the Enugu East senatorial election to March 18 same day the governorship and State Assembly elections would be held.
Meanwhile, Senator Nnamani has sent a congratulatory message to his rival, Kelvin Chukwu over his victory in Saturday’s senatorial election.
The former governor in the message said the outcome of the election reflected the wishes of the majority of constituents adding “the people have spoken.”
He explained that “The result of the election is in tandem with the rave of the moment in the South East zone who have identified with the Labour Party. A contrary result would have negated the trend. I wish the Enugu East senator-elect a successful tenure in the upper legislative chamber.”
Chimaroke Nnamani also told his supporters to remain calm and accept the outcome of the election in good faith.
KanyiDaily recalls that Chimaroke Nnamani had elicited controversy when he publicly supported the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, over the candidate of his PDP, Atiku Abubakar. That led to his expulsion from the PDP which he declared illegal.