Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo says he dedicates his victory in Saturday’s governorship election to God and the people of the state, “who turned out en masse to vote for me”.

Mr Uzodimma said this on Monday in a state-wide broadcast in Owerri.

He said, “I humbly accept the great honour and privilege to serve as your governor for a second term of four years.”

The governor said that the massive vote for him was “an emphatic vote of confidence” on his performance in office in the last four years.

He said: “I must confess that I am truly humbled and deeply appreciative of every single vote I received across the 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.

“They all contributed to giving me a clear, historic and unprecedented victory over my opponents.

“This historic statement is a clear confirmation that all the different stakeholders, who had earlier endorsed me for the governorship election because of our superlative performance in office, have walked their talk.

“To all of you, including, but not limited to, the youths, women, traders, road transport workers, all other stakeholders, particularly Imo workers, through their different unions, such as the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Nigerian Union of Teachers, the Nigerian Union of Pensioners and the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, I say thank you very much indeed.

“I sincerely appreciate all of you, you have made me proud, indeed.

“It is now my turn to keep my own side of the bargain,” he said.

The governor assured the people that he would serve them with utmost honesty and the fear of God.

“I am aware of your desires and expectations.

“In this regard, let me reassure you that I will continue to deliver the dividend of democracy to Imo people under our 3R mantra of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery.

“I will continue to provide transparent, accountable and transformative leadership to Imo people.

“I will continue to provide an inclusive platform for all Imo people to have a say on how they are governed.

“These are my promises, and I believe this was why you voted for me and I will keep to the promises,” Mr Uzodimma said.

He called on his opponents at the election “to join hands with him to continue to build the Imo of our collective dream”.

He also commended APC agents across the 305 wards in the state as well as the political appointees, for standing firm in the defence of APC votes.

He also thanked religious leaders for their relentless and fervent prayers for peace in the state and, particularly, for the election.

“It is also to your credit that you initiated the Charter of Equity, which was designed to reduce tension and acrimony in governorship elections in the state.

“In the same vein, I thank the Elders Council for adopting the Charter of Equity document wholeheartedly and for tirelessly marketing it to our people in the 27 LGAs.

“I also wish to thank our traditional rulers for all their prayers for the peaceful conduct of the election.

“For INEC, the security agencies and others, who saw to it that the election was peaceful, free and fair, you are the true heroes of the election and worthy defenders of our democracy, I thank you all,” the governor said.

INEC declared Mr Uzodimma the winner of the election after he polled 540,308 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu of PDP, who scored 71,503 votes.

The Labour Party candidate, Sen. Athan Achonu, came third with 64,081 votes, while the APGA candidate, Anthony Ejiogu, came fourth with 6,392 votes.

(NAN)