The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, is leading the Edo State governorship election with over 48,000 more votes than his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Results from 16 local government areas were declared at the INEC Collation Centre in Benin City on Sunday.
Okpebholo, who represents Edo Central in the Senate, has secured 244,549 votes, winning 10 local government areas, while Ighodalo has garnered 195,954 votes, winning 6 local government areas. Labour Party (LP)’s Olumide Akpata trails in third with 13,346 votes.
Following the declaration of these results, the INEC Collation Centre took a break. The Returning Officer, Faruk Adamu Kuta, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, announced the recess at 2:19 pm to await results from two more local government areas. The collation is expected to resume by 5 pm, when the final results are anticipated to be announced.
The PDP has raised concerns about the election results, with their candidate, Asue Ighodalo, alleging inconsistencies. “From our perspective, the way these elections are going, they’re probably going to be the worst elections in the history of this country,” Ighodalo said during a press conference led by Governor Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State, head of the PDP campaign organisation for the election.
Meanwhile, APC has urged caution, calling on Nigerians to await the official results from INEC. “We urge members of the public to disregard this attempted misrepresentation and await INEC’s final verdict on the election,” the APC said in a statement, accusing incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki of attempting to interfere with the collation process following his visit to the INEC centre.
As the collation continues, tensions remain high, with PDP supporters protesting in Benin City, claiming the results being collated do not reflect the will of the people.
