BREAKING: APC’s Okpebholo Wins Edo Governorship Election
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressive Congress, APC as the governor-elect of Edo State having scored the highest number of votes in the 21 September gubernatorial election.
Mr Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Asue Ighodalo, who scored 247,274 votes.
The Labour Party, LP candidate, Olumide Akpata, a former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA emerged as second runner-up by polling 22,763 votes.
The State INEC Returning Officer Professor Faruk Adamu Kuta and Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology Minna, declared Monday Okpebholo the winner on Sunday, after finding the APC gubernatorial candidate satisfied the requirements of the law to be declared winner of the September 21 governorship poll.
Okpebholo won 11 local governments out of the 18 local governments to emerge the winner of the contest.
Monday Okpebholo is a businessman and politician, the senator representing Edo Central senatorial district leveraged significant influence in his senatorial district, and joined forces with his colleague in the National Assembly from Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, to defeat Ighodalo, the anointed candidate of the outgoing governor, Godwin Obaseki.
Okpebholo’s victory could also be attributed to his alliance with Dennis Idahosa, his running mate who is a federal lawmaker; and Obaseki’s estranged deputy, Philip Shaibu.
Meanwhile, the governor-elect Monday Okpebholo has described his victory as a triumph of the people’s will.
Tony Iyoha, an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), called for the suspension of the entire election over alleged irregularities. He accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manufacturing the results of the poll.
For most parts of the collation process, the PDP agent pushed back against results from various LGAs, describing some of them as “manufactured.”.
The deputy governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the just concluded gubernatorial election in Edo State, Prince Asamah Kadiri (SAN), accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of vote-buying.
The LP deputy standard bearer said the APC engaged in the unwholesome enterprise and other desperate measures, which he said he saw first-hand in Auchi and other parts of the Edo North district.
Prince Kadiri, who disclosed this after voting in his vote in Auchi Ward 1, Unit 6, noted that “It is sad that the APC is engaging in vote buying in my unit, and the reports available to me across Auchi and the Edo North district show that the APC is buying votes for N10,000.”
Reacting to the accusations, the former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole has denied the allegation that the All Progressive’s Congress (APC) brought money to buy votes.
The senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, disclosed this while speaking with journalists after casting his vote at Iyamho, Ward 10 Unit 01 in Etsako West Local Government Area of the state. Oshiomhole said it was laughable for the opposition parties to make such spurious allegations.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo has raised serious concerns over the ongoing election, warning that it could be remembered as the worst election in Nigeria’s history due to numerous alleged irregularities.
Ighodalo made this claim during a live press conference on Sunday, organised by the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, which was led by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.
“The way this election is going, it is set to be the worst election in the history of this country,” Ighodalo stated.
He detailed several instances of electoral infractions across multiple polling units, questioning the credibility of the results being announced.
One of the major infractions he cited involved polling units in Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, where accredited voters were recorded as zero, yet results were announced.
“In Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, the figure for accredited voters was NIL, but the results claimed the APC had 227 votes, while the PDP had 103. How is that even possible?” Ighodalo asked.
He went on to highlight similar issues in other polling units within the same area.
“In another unit in Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, the number of accredited voters was recorded as 156, but the APC was declared to have won 2,110 votes, while the PDP received just 57 votes, and no votes were recorded for the Labour Party.”
Ighodalo further revealed that more than 20 polling units across the state were affected by these discrepancies, describing the situation as a “result-writing scheme” aimed at disenfranchising PDP agents and rigging the election in favor of the APC.
Governor Fintiri echoed these concerns, adding that PDP agents had been denied access to collation centers, raising further questions about the transparency of the process.
Fintiri who was flagged by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his Taraba State counterpart, Agbu Kefas, called on INEC to follow its own rules and ensure that the collation of results was conducted fairly and transparently.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it will investigate allegation of wrong figures entered into polling unit result sheets in the on going Edo governorship election.
The commission in a short statement on X on Saturday night promised to investigate the matter immediately.
