- The Independent National Electoral Commission has officially declared Olaka Nwogu, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, as the winner of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District bye-election held on Saturday.
- Official figures released by the electoral umpire show the PDP candidate securing an unassailable 47,961 votes to defeat his closest rival from the All Progressives Congress, who polled 1,647 votes.
- To counter early system glitches during the voting exercise, INEC deployed supplementary Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machines and specialized technical personnel across the district to ensure a smooth collation process.
The Independent National Electoral Commission on Sunday declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olaka Nwogu, as the winner of the Rivers South-East Senatorial District bye-election conducted on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the urgent off-cycle election, which was contested across seven local government areas, Khana, Gokana, Tai, Eleme, Andoni, Oyigbo, and Opobo, was necessitated by the unfortunate demise of the district’s former representative, Senator Barry Mpigi, who passed away in February this year.
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Announcing the final collated results at the senatorial collation center situated within the Khana Local Government Council Secretariat in Bori, the INEC Returning Officer for the election, Professor Rosemary Ogu, confirmed that the exercise was contested by four cleared political parties.
Nwogu Olaka Johnson of the PDP secured a total of 47,961 votes, comfortably defeating his nearest competitor, Osarokaka Ebenezer Erewari of the APC, who managed ,1647 votes.
Meanwhile, Douglass Fabeke of the Action Alliance recorded 1,175 votes, while Sam Kinani of the Labour Party finished the race with 367 votes.
Professor Ogu certified that the PDP flagbearer had fully satisfied all legal requirements and conditions of the electoral guidelines, officially returning him elected.
The smooth conclusion of the high-stakes election was bolstered by swift operational adjustments from the commission to manage technical challenges.
Speaking during an extensive inspection tour of various polling clusters alongside the INEC National Commissioner representing the South-South region, May Agbamu-Mbu, the Head of Department for Voter Education in Rivers State, Geraldine Ekelemo, revealed that the umpire was prepared for digital hitches.
Acknowledging that minor technical glitches had briefly slowed down voter verification in one or two polling units, Ekelemo explained that backup BVAS devices were distributed to each local government area.
Trained technical staff on the ground swiftly reconfigured the substitute machines, closing the gaps immediately to ensure an uninterrupted process.
Local political analysts note that Nwogu’s massive victory further consolidates the grassroots influence of the Rainbow Coalition, a non-partisan political association led in Rivers State by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who heavily backed Nwogu’s candidacy.
With the official declaration finalized and the certificate of return expected shortly, the newly elected senator is set to step into the National Assembly to complete the remaining timeline of the late Senator Mpigi’s tenure, focusing on legislative continuity and infrastructural representation for the Niger Delta area.
