…Olumide Akpata, Labour Party Candidate Loses Polling Unit …Asue Ighodalo Wins Unit Massively …Monday Okpebholo Wins Polling Unit in a Landslide …Collation of Results Begins Tonight The nation heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday when the polls closed peacefully in the Edo governorship election. There had been apprehensions based the violence that greeted the
…Olumide Akpata, Labour Party Candidate Loses Polling Unit
…Asue Ighodalo Wins Unit Massively
…Monday Okpebholo Wins Polling Unit in a Landslide
…Collation of Results Begins Tonight
The nation heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday when the polls closed peacefully in the Edo governorship election. There had been apprehensions based the violence that greeted the electioneering campaigns that the election day could pose some challenges. But, results have started trickling in almost immediately and there were no glitches with the upload of the election results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) Portal which is the platform that provides information to aid election transparency.
As of 8:00 pm, up to 90 percent of the election results have been uploaded on the IReV portal which many acknowledged worked optimally contrary to what was experienced in last year’s general election.
Olumide Akpata, Labour Party Candidate Loses Poling Unit
Olumide Akpata After Casting His Vote
However, the unexpected turn of tides that is not uncommon in election results has begun to manifest in the Edo election, as the Labour Party’s candidate, Olumide Akpata, failed to win his polling unit losing it to the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Asue Ighodalo. The result of the polling unit as announced by the Presiding Officer of the Unit around 3:09 p.m. shows that the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had 32 votes out of the 92 votes cast at the unit, while his PDP counterpart garnered 41votes, while the APC got 19 votes.
While the result of the election in the polling unit is not a determinant of the outcome of the election, the reactions from the residents showed mixed feelings.
Obaseki Wins Polling Unit for PDP
Meanwhile, the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki delivered his polling units to his anointed candidate, the PDP candidate Asue Ighodalo. The governor who voted in at Okemole I. Emokpae Primary School, polling unit 19 earlier in the morning, stated that the process went smoothly.
Results in his unit showed that the PDP garnered 127 votes ahead of the APC, which scored 35 votes, while Labour got 11.
Ighodalo and Okpebholo Win Polling Units
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Asue also won the election in his polling unit at Ward 1, PU 3, Ewohimi, Esan south-east Local Government Area of the state, where he won with 200 votes ahead of the APC candidate, Monday Okpebholowho got 45
In the same vein, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress Edo governorship, Monday Okpebholo also won his polling unit with 102 votes, while PDP and LP got 1 vote each.
YIAGA Africa Observes Vote Buying as EFCC Arrests Some Perpetrators
As the voting process was going on, Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, stated in its reports that its agents reported cases of vote buying in some parts of Edo State. The CSO accused the politicians and the supporters of being complicit in vote buying, which led to altercations and suspensions of votes in some of the places.
“Voters halted the accreditation and voting process at the Army Children XI polling unit in Iwogban/Uteh Ward, Ikpoba/Okha LGA because INEC officials arrived without the official stamp,” the organisation said.
“At Ebua Market Square in Uhunwode LGA, an altercation between APC and PDP supporters over alleged bribery led to the suspension of voting and the destruction of the voting cubicle.”
In the same vein, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested some persons for alleged vote trading in the ongoing Edo governorship election. The operatives of the antigraft agency and police officers were seen arresting three suspects at a polling station in the LGA before dragging them away and out of sight. The suspects consisted of two males and a female.
Vote buying is one of the activities that electoral law frowns against.
