After a tense period that looked like a brewing storm, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday evening declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the Edo state off-cycle governorship election held on September 21, 2024, Senator Monday Okpebholo as the winner of the election and thus becomes the Governor-elect. The Returning
After a tense period that looked like a brewing storm, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday evening declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the Edo state off-cycle governorship election held on September 21, 2024, Senator Monday Okpebholo as the winner of the election and thus becomes the Governor-elect.
The Returning Officer for the election, who is also the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Professor Farouq Musa Adamu announced the state election collation Centre. According to him, the APC candidate polled a total vote of 291,667 to beat his closest counterparts, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Asue Ighodalo who polled 247,274 votes, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party who came a distant third with 22,763 votes.
He declared: “That Okpebholo of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby returned elected”, he said. The moment leading to this declaration had the State engulfed with tension with pockets of protests gathering around the state by party supporters.
The results show that Senator Monday Okpebholo of the APC won in 11 local governments and had 25 percent spread across the state. The constitution requires a winner to score the highest number of votes and to have at least 25 percent spread in all local governments in the state, which he did.
The collation exercise began at around 11:30 am on 22nd September 2024, before then the presence of heavy security agencies set their barricades around the INEC Secretariat to prevent some violent activities.
.There was growing tension in the state at the earliest period of the day as the collation was ongoing about the possible outcome of the much-anticipated election. The tension continued to grow when some members of the Peoples Democratic Party took to the streets to protest and demand that their election be counted.
Also, at the far distance to INEC collation centers, some supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party were seen agitating against the collation exercise even while it was still ongoing, this placed
Before the commencement of the collation exercise, Godwin Obaseki had gone to the INEC office in the wee hours of yesterday to have a closed-door meeting with the state Residential Electoral Commission.
While the reason for his visit was unknown, it also attracted the presence of the leaders of All Progressives Congress who were led by the Party General Secretary, Surajudeen who condemned the governor’s presence at the INEC office.
PDP Calls for suspension of Declaration of Results, Outcome, vows to Contest the Results
Reacting to the result, the agent of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyoha Tony Osaigbovo, called for the suspension of the results declaration.
According to him, the numbers presented by INEC do not tally with what they have in their database, as a result, the electoral commission must wait for the reconciliation of the figures.
Speaking with journalists after the declaration, Iyoha Tony Osaigbovo the Agent of the Peoples Democratic Party decried the process of conducting the election, stating that the poll was not free and fair as their political party agents were not allowed to participate in the collation exercise across the local governments.
He however insisted that while the deed has been done, his party would contest the results and get its deserved justice,
“They were doing collation across all local governments and our party agents were not allowed in and when they could not continue they brought the process to the collation centre where they keep on manufacturing the results.
It is a shame, what we have seen here is a show of shame and I have told the umpire the other time that they are pushing Nigeria to the precipice. It is a reality because when you push a goat to the wall, it has to turn back. We saw a sham that happened in Nigeria last year, and we are seeing what is going on here.
None of us is insulated. We are seeing it, this is the first time we are seeing a set of people coming together without conducting elections and writing the results. We are going to contest these results, we are not doing it for ourselves, we are doing it for our kids and the generation to come. My party will still release a statement to this effect.
Below is the breakdown of the results from the 18 local governments
1 Iguebe LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 54549
Accredited Voters -15,274
APC:5907
LP: 494
PDP:8470
Total valid votes-14989
Rejected votes -278
2. Esan West LG
10 wards
Total Registered Voters- 113067
Accredited Voters-25702
APC: 12,952
LP: 342
PDP: 11, 004
Total Valid Votes: 24,691
Total Rejected Votes: 693
Total votes cast:
3. Owan LGA
Total Registered Voters: 67 076
Accredited Voters – 24, 311
APC: 12, 277
LP: 201
PDP: 11,284
Total Valid Votes:23, 904
Total Rejected Votes: 391
Total votes Cast 24,295
4. Uhumnwonde LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 92,169
Accredited Voters -20,044
APC: 8,776
LP: 769
PDP: 9,339
Total Valid Votes:19,223
Total Rejected Votes: 553
Total votes cast: 19,776
5. Ovia North East LGA
13 wards
Total Registered Voters- 177,106
Accredited Voters -32,441
APC: 13,225
LP: 1,675
PDP: 15,311
Total Valid Votes:30,783
Total Rejected Votes: 1312
Total Votes Cast: 32,095
6. Esan South-East LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 90,240
Accredited Voters -23,390
APC:8,398
LP: 98
PDP: 14,199
Total Valid Votes: 22,780
Total Rejected Votes: 356
Total Votes Cast: 23,136
7. Egor LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 242,266
Accredited Voters -35,463
APC: 16,760
LP: 1,966
PDP: 14,658
Total Valid Votes: 34 022
Total Rejected Votes: 1,018
Total Votes Cast: 35 040
8. Akoko LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 14,4379
Accredited Voters -54,395
APC: 34,847
LP: 2,239
PDP: 15,865
Total Valid Votes: 53,547
Total Rejected Votes: 331
Total Votes Cast: 53878
9. Esan Central LGA
10 Wards
Total Registered Voters: 68338
Accredited Voters – 20580
APC:10,990
LP: 418
PDP: 8,618
Total Valid Votes: 20,198
Total Rejected Votes: 361
Total Votes Cast: 20,559
10. Esan North East LGA
11 wards
Total Registered Voters: 106280
Accredited Voters -24,430
APC: 10648
LP: 194
PDP: 12,522
Total Valid Votes:23,637
Total Rejected Votes:674
Total Votes Cast: 24,311
11. Ovia South West LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 112091
Accredited Voters -23196
APC: 10,150
LP: 849
PDP: 10,260
Total Valid Votes: 21710
Total Rejected Votes:1086
Total Votes Cast: 22,796
12. Orhiomnwon LG
12 wards
Total Registered Voters- 139260
Accredited Voters -33196
APC:16,059
LP:556
PDP: 14,614
Total Valid Votes: 31,559
Total Rejected Votes:1,091
Total Votes Cast: 32,650
13. Owan East LGA
11 wards
Total Registered Voters: 106252
Accredited Voters – 34618
APC: 19,380
LP: 446
PDP: 14,189
Total Valid Votes:34157
Total Rejected Votes:420
Total Votes Cast: 34577
14. Esako East LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters 102754
Accredited Voters -35084
APC: 20,167
LP:604
PDP: 9683
Total Valid Votes:30926
Total Rejected Votes:435
Total Votes Cast: 31,361
15.Etsako Central LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 59430
Accredited Voters – 21,465
APC: 11,906
LP: 381
PDP: 8455
Total Valid Votes: 20851
Total Rejected Votes: 294
Total Votes Cast: 21,145
16. Etsako West LGA
12 wards
Total Registered Voters-186449
Accredited Voters – 54,304
APC: 32,107
LP: 2116
PDP: 17,483
Total Valid Votes: 52,226
Total Rejected Votes:1188
Total Votes Cast:53414
17. Oredo LGA
Total Registered Voters-356,242
Accredited Voters -68,402
APC: 30,780
LP: 5389
PDP: 24,938
Total Valid Votes:62,703
Total Rejected Votes:1339
Total votes 64,042
18. Ikpboba Okha LGA
10 wards
Total Registered Voters: 392,782
Accredited Voters:61,437
APC: 16,338
LP: 4026
PDP: 26,382
Total Valid Votes:48784
Total Rejected Votes:1455
Total votes cast: 50239
