Francis Ibeawuchi, INEC returning officer for the election, declared that Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner, after he polled a total of 97,762 votes and won in ten of the 12 local government areas.
Jones Onyereri, his closest challenger who is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 63117 votes.
The returning officer, however, said he was “forced” to announce the results.
The announcement was controversially stopped on Sunday night after results from nine local governments were collated, with Okorocha leading in eight of them.
Ibeawuchi had said he stopped the process because he was asked to “return” to Owerri, the state capital.
When he continued on Monday morning, returning officer announced the remaining three local government areas, with Okorocha winning in two of them.
Before then, both Okorocha and Onyeriri had separately visited the collation centre.
TheCable
