Osadebe House, the seat of government, governance and politicking in Edo State just found itself a new leader, following the recently concluded gubernatorial election in the State.
The All Progressives Congress’s (APC) Senator Monday Okpebholo, was the chosen, through election, out of a pool of others.
Okpebholo was among the top three leading the intensely competitive electioneering fight which later favours him as a victor, defeating the rest of the two: Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party with a wide margin of thousand votes.
There have been speculations for lack of transparency on the announcement of the result. Less than 24 hours to the declaration of Okpebholo as the winner, PDP members engaged in a demonstrative protest, calling INEC for transparency.
In a video livestreamed by the BBC Pidgin Nigeria, the Edo State PDP members gathered en masse at the INEC collation centre in Benin, protesting against what they described as unfair treatment in the process of announcing the election results.
Election observers, comprising the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, and others had also jointly expressed concerns about the transparency of the results collation process, on Sunday.
INEC, itself formerly acknowledged that there was mutilation of votes in some polling units.
However, all odds did not stop the victory of APC’s Okpebholo. INEC eventually declared him the winner in deadly close of hour on Sunday.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Faruk Kuta, who is the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, gave the final announcement, at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital, saying “Okpebholo satisfied the requirement of the law,” and is “hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”
Interestingly, Senator Okpebholo, now Governor, defeated even the outgoing Governor Obaseki at his Local Government area. This is despite the vehement support, the Governor give to PDP.
Senator Okpebholo was declared winner on Sunday, with 291,667 votes secured over his main challengers, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) with 247,274 and 22,763 votes, respectively.
Edo State, comprises 18 Local Government Areas, divided into Edo North, Edo South, and Edo Central. Traditionally, Edo North has been an APC stronghold, while the PDP has maintained dominance in Edo Central and Edo South. It took just s wide margin of 44,393 Votes, the new Governor used to clinch victory.
Read Also: Can Jega Livestock Reforms Address Deadly Farmer-Herder Conflict?
Agency Report
PIJAlance Magazine, is an independent public-centric journalism arm of PIJA Foundation that stands to tell stories connecting the masses to community justice and development. We always rebel against social injustice. Got a story you'll like us to publish, tip us in contact us.