The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Sunday announced Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Edo state governor-elect, following his victory in Saturday’s gubernatorial election.
Okpbholo won 11 out of the 18 local government areas of the state polling 291,667 votes, with Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) coming second with 247,274 votes, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) having 22,763 votes coming a distant third in the contest.
Announcing the result, the Returning Officer, Prof. Faruq Adamu Kuta, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Niger state, said Okpebholo won the election after securing the highest number of votes cast.
“I, Prof. Faruq Adamu Kuta, certify that I’m the Returning Officer for the Edo state governorship election held on September 21, 2024… That Okpebholo of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the election and returned elected,” Kuta declared.
…Anxiety over awaiting result
There was a moment of anxiety after Okpebholo took a clear lead in the exercise following the announcement of results from 17 out of the 18 local government areas of the state.
The results, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) local governments collation officers for the election, indicated that the APC won in 11 local government areas, while the PDP won in 6.
The results also showed Akpata of the LP as not winning any local government area while the waiting game lasted.
Already, the LP candidate lost in his Oredo local government after polling 5,389 behind the APC and PDP candidates.
Also, Governor Godwin Obaseki, who hails from the same local government with Akpata, lost his base to the APC.
Okpebholo polled 30,780 votes to defeat Obaseki’s PDP candidate who garnered 24,938 votes in the local government.
The results also showed that the APC governorship running mate, Hon. Dennis Idahosa lost to the PDP in his Ovia South West local government area.
In addition, the results indicated that the APC won in all the six local governments in the Edo North Senatorial District of an ex-governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
The local governments as released then by the collation officers include: Oredo (APC), Egor (APC), Orhionmwon (APC), Etsako Central (APC), Etsako West (APC), Akoko-Edo (APC), Owan West (APC), Owan East (APC), Etsako East (APC), Esan Central (APC) and Esan West (APC).
Others include Ovia North-East (PDP), Ovia West (PDP), Igueben (PDP), Esan South East (PDP), Uhunmwode (PDP) and Esan North East (PDP).
…Full results at a glance
Action Alliance (AA) 206, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)1,242, All People Movement (APM) 151, National Restoration Movement (NRM) 727, All Peoples Party (APP) 144, Action Democratic Party (ADP) 1099, African Action Congress (AAC) 273, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) 254, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 247,274.
Others are Boot Party (BP) 217, Accord Party (AP) 222, African Democratic Congress (ADC) 1,956, Labour Party (LP) 2,763, All Progressives Congress (APC) 291, 667, Young Progressive Party (YPP) 296, and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) 635.
…PDP, candidate fume
Meanwhile, the PDP had, ahead of the final declaration, asked for a review of the results announced by the collation officers.
The party also demanded an immediate re-collation and re-computation “of the actual results for the various polling units.”
It said the re-collation should be done incompliance with the INEC guidelines and regulations, mandating that votes from various units and wards be properly collated.
Chairman of the state PDP, Dr. Anthony Aziegbemi, who disclosed this to journalists, said there were notable discrepancies in the results declared by INEC collation officers, with the ones uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal.
The party chair noted that the party obtained marginal votes in Akoko-Edo local government, Egor and Etsako West LGAs polling units, but expressed surprise that it was shortchanged in the final results announced by the collation officers.
According to him, “the above highlighted irregularities are very apparent extremely scandalous and a brazen attempt to steal the mandate of the PDP and also terrible embarrassment to the commission.
Similarly, the party’s candidate, Mr. Ighodalo, expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the election.
“From our perspective, the way these elections are going, they’re probably going to be the worst elections in the history of this country.
“We have information, for instance, where we have over 20 polling units, where the accredited voters are less than the total votes, which is not possible.
“There’s a result writing scheme going on, and it’s totally unacceptable. This process is not acceptable, and then they’re trying to disenfranchise our collation agents.
“At every point, you find APC and their thugs supported by people dressed as security agents going to shoot at polling agents and disrupting processes. This is not accepted in the 21st century and not in Nigeria,” he said.
…Observer groups
On their part, the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) raised concern over the collation process by the INEC.
In a joint statement Sunday in Benini City, the six civil society groups urged the security agencies to allow the media and observers full access to collation centres for transparency.
The statement, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), was signed by Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, ElectHER and TAF Africa.
It said: “We, the undersigned accredited civil society organizations, express concern over the transparency of the ongoing results collation for the 2024 Edo governorship election by INEC.
“Reports of disruptions at collation centers, including intimidation of INEC officials and attempts to collate results against electoral provisions, have raised credibility concerns about the process.
“INEC’s statement acknowledging reports of result mutilation and its commitment to investigate any proven violations is a step in the right direction but needs prompt action.
“We urge INEC to invoke Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 to review declarations where results were not voluntarily declared or violated electoral provisions.
“Security agencies must ensure non-interference in the collation process, allowing party agents, the media, and observers full access to maintain transparency and uphold electoral integrity,” the statement said.