September 23, (THEWILL) – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday declared Senator Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the 2024 Governorship Election in Edo State and govern-elect, amid controversy over the authenticity of collated results.
The Returning Officer for the election and Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Prof Farouk Adamu Kuta, declared Okpebholo the duly elected governor at the conclusion of collation in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
“I, Prof. Faruq Adamu Kuta, I 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,” he declared.
According to INEC’s tally, Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to beat his closest rival, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Asuerinme Ighodalo, who scored 247,274. Barr. Olumide Osaigbovo Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) came a distant third with 22,773.
But Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and the PDP disputed the tally, claiming that they had evidence to show that their candidate won and that INEC colluded with the APC altered the figures. In a late Sunday night statewide broadcast, Obaseki rejected INEC’s declaration, describing it as a “blatant disregard for the rule of law and institutions of democracy.” He however urged those aggrieved not to hit the streets in protest, assuring that his party would follow the law to seek redress. Chairman of the Edo State PDP National Campaign Council, Governor Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State accused INEC of violating the Electoral Act by truncating the collation process to compromise the election, claiming that his party agents’ report from 12 out of 18 LGAs showed that the PDP candidate, Ighodalo polled 143,100 votes to the APC’s 136,777. He did not give any information on the outstanding six local government areas.
Adding his voice to the protest, PDP agent for Oredo LGA, Tony Iyoha, during collation of results at the state collation centre on Benin-Auchi road, Ikpoba Okha LGA, Benin-City, alleged electoral fraud, claiming that some results were “manufactured” in favour of the APC.
In his reaction, the Returning Officer for the election, Prof Kuta, said the collation centre was not a court of law and “any such issue should be documented and sent to the appropriate authority.”
The APC had earlier on Saturday in statement claimed that its candidate was leading according to early results, but that it would not preempt the INEC in declaring victory until the conclusion of the process. National spokesman of the party, Felix Morka, said some bogus figures of vote tallies in the ongoing election were being peddled on social media platforms by some political parties. He urged the public to disregard them.
“Consistent with the Electoral Act, the Independent National Electoral Commission is the sole authorised body empowered to collate results at the ward, local government and state levels, and to officially declare the result of the election.
“Our great party is comfortably in an early lead, however, as a responsible party, we will not attempt to pre-empt INEC’s conclusion of the election process and official declaration of final results. We urge members of the public to disregard this attempted misrepresentation and await INEC’s final verdict on the election,” the APC said.
Also, expressing concern over the transparency of the collation process, a coalition of accredited civil society organisations made up of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, ElectHER and TAF Africa in a statement on Sunday expressed concern over the transparency of the collation of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It said: “Widespread disruptions at ward and local government collation centres, including intimidation of INEC officials and attempts to collate results, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, raise significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process. In the light of this, we urge INEC to invoke its powers under Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 to review any declarations and returns where results were not declared voluntarily or violated provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC regulations and guidelines.”
Meanwhile, APC big wigs, including President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and Senator Adams Oshiomhole, reinstated Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip ,Shaibu, Governor –elect, Okpebholo, his deputy, Denis Idahosa, among others, celebrated the victory with gospel songs amid wining and dining at Oshiomhole’s House in the Government Reservation Area in Benin-City, the Edo State capital, on Sunday night.
President Bola Tinubu and his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari sent messages to Okpebholo congratulating him for his victory. Tinubu, who urged Okpebholo not to gloat over his victory, but to see it as a call to service, said, “The victory testified the people’s support for the ruling party, progressive ideals, economic re-engineering programme and commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians.”
He commended INEC and the security agencies for providing the conducive environment for the people to express their votes and urged all those aggrieved by the election outcome to seek redress through legal channels.
Buhari, who also commended the law enforcement agencies for their efforts in ensuring a peaceful election, urged the winners and losers in the election to “work together to strengthen democracy and maintain the trajectory of development in the state.”
THEWILL reports that the election, one of the off-cycle governorship elections in 2024, featured candidates of 18 political parties, comprising 17 males and one female. Voting took place in all 4,519 polling units across the 18 local government areas of Edo State on Saturday.
The results of the election as declared by the INEC Returning Officer for the Edo Governorship Election, Prof Kuta, are as follows:
IGUEBEN LGA
APC – 5,907
LP – 494
PDP – 8,470
ESAN WEST LGA
APC – 12,952
LP – 342
PDP – 11,004
OWAN-WEST LGA
APC- 12,277
LP – 201
PDP – 11,284
UHUNMWONDE LGA
APC – 8,776
LP – 767
PDP – 9,339
OVIA NORTH-EAST LGA
APC – 13,225
LP – 1,675
PDP – 15,311
ESAN SOUTH-EAST LGA
APC – 8,398
LP – 98
PDP – 14,199
EGOR LGA
APC – 16,760
LP – 1,966
PDP – 14,658
AKOKO-EDO LG
APC – 34,847
LP – 2,239
PDP – 15,865
ESAN CENTRAL LGA
APC – 10,990
LP – 418
PDP – 8,618
ESAN NORTH-EAST LGA
APC – 10,648
LP – 194
PDP – 12,522
OVIA SOUTH-WEST LGA
APC – 10,150
LP – 849
PDP – 10,260
ORHIONMWON LGA
APC – 16,059
LP – 556
PDP – 14,614
OWAN-EAST
APC – 19,380
LP – 446
PDP – 14,189
ETSAKO EAST LGA
APC – 20,167
LP – 604
PDP – 9,683
ETSAKO CENTRAL LGA
APC – 11,906
LP – 381
PDP – 8,455
ETSAKO WEST LGA
APC – 32,107
LP – 2,116
PDP – 17,483
OREDO LGA
APC – 30,780
LP – 5,389
PDP – 24,938
IKPOBA-OKHA LGA
APC- 16,338
LP – 4036
PDP – 26,382
