* Amid parallel primaries
Senator Athan Achonu has emerged as the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate for Imo State.
Achonu won the ticket during the LP governorship primaries held in Owerri on Saturday.
The Returning Officer and Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti, announced that Achonu polled 134 votes to beat his closest rival, Major-General Jack Ogunewe who scored 121.
Senator Achonu was elected into the Senate in 2015 to represent Imo North on the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
However, in December 2015, the Appeal Court sitting in Owerri upturned his election at the instance of the candidate of the Accord Party (AP) that his party’s logo was not included in the ballot papers used for the 2015 National Assembly election. The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Benjamin Uwajumogu was then declared the winner of the polls.
However, there were reports of the party holding two parallel primary elections at different locations in Owerri on Saturday.
The two factions are laying claims to the authenticity and legality of their primaries.
While a faction of the party headed by Festus Onyekwulisi conducted its primaries at Andreas Hotel along MCC Road, another group led by a former National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie held its own at the Landmark Event Centre in Owerri, with Dr. Alex Otti as Returning Officer and chairman of the electoral panel.