The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom, Umo Eno, has been declared the winner of the governorship election.

Mr Eno was declared the winner on Sunday in Uyo, the state capital, by Prof. Emmanuel Adigio, the Returning Officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Mr Eno won in 29 of the 31 local government areas in the state with a total of 354,348 votes to defeat his top challenger, Bassey Albert of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), who won in two local governments areas, scoring 136,262 votes.

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Akanimo Udofia, came third with 129,602 votes.

The candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Labour Party scored 12,509 and 4,746 votes, respectively.

Mr Adigio gave the total number of registered voters in the state as 2,357,418 out of which 657,959 representing about a quarter were accredited for the exercise.

He also gave the total valid votes cast as 656,422 out of which 12,342 were rejected votes while 644,080 were valid vote.