The Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the Rivers State Governorship election, Prof. Teddy Adias declared Governor Nyesom Wike winner of the election on Wednesday, 3rd April 2019. This followed the conclusion of collation of election results in Rivers State, which resumed on Tuesday, 2nd April 2019. Governor Wike of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) polled 886,264 votes with his closest rival, Biokpomabo Awara of the African Action Congress (AAC) scoring 173,859 votes. The total number of registered voters in areas where elections did not hold or were cancelled stands at 249,324. The incumbent Governor won in 19 Local Government Areas (LGAs), while Awara won in 2 LGAs out of the 21 LGAs where election results were declared.
The announcement of the results concluded what has been a very controversial Governorship election. It will be recalled that Civil Society groups and observers had raised concern about the brazen interference of the military in the elections. There were several allegations of military and security forces taking over Collation Centres. These occurrences resulted in the suspension of the election, as the process could not be concluded.