Ayade delivers as APC’s Otu wins Cross River governorship election

Senator Bassey Otu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross Rivers state has been declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.

Otu secured a total of 258,619 votes to defeat Senator Sandy Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 179,636 votes.

The APC candidate won in 15 of the 18 local government areas in the state.

Recall that Cross River was traditionally a PDP state, but in 2021, the state governor, Ben Ayade dumped the party for the APC. 

According to him, he defected to the ruling party to connect Cross River to the centre and help the President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

In 2022, he nominated and endorsed Otu to succeed him while he sought to represent the people of Cross River North in the Senate.

But Ayade lost his senatorial bid to Agom-Jarigbe’s of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor had a total of 56,595 votes, while his rival polled 76,145 votes..