Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State and Senator Chimaroke Nnamani have secured the 2023 senatorial tickets of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a primary election held in the state on Tuesday.
Ugwuanyi scored 299 valid votes cast to defeat three other aspirants, namely, Mr Celestine Okanya, Chief Ikechukwu Eze and Prof Godsmark Ugwu for the Enugu North senatorial district.
However, former governor Nnamani retained the senatorial ticket for Enugu East as he polled all the 243 votes cast at the primary election.
Meanwhile, Mr Osita Ngwu, won the PDP ticket for Enugu West to replace Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who is vying for the governorship position in the state.
Ngwu scored 177 votes to defeat a three-time House of Representatives member, Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi who scored 55 votes and former Aviation Minister, Fidelia Njeze who got three votes.
Ugwuanyi was declared winner of the peaceful election by Mr Vin Amabei, the Chairman of the PDP five-man Electoral Panel from the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
It was conducted by the PDP Enugu State three-man Electoral Panel led by the Returning Officer, Mr Tahill Ochi, before the voting exercise by the delegates.
The elections were monitored by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who described it as peaceful and transparent.
In his acceptance speech, Ugwuanyi dedicated the victory to God, and went round to thank the delegates for their overwhelming support and solidarity. (NAN)