INEC Announces APC’s Okpebholo Winner of Edo Governorship Election Amid Rigging Allegations 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the keenly contested governorship election held on Saturday, September 21, 2024, in Edo State.

The 54-year-old Okpebholo secured 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 247,274 votes, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), who came in a distant third with 22,761 votes.

Fourteen other candidates contested the seat but received fewer votes than the three leading candidates.

Declaring the APC flagbearer as the winner, INEC’s Returning Officer for the poll, Prof. Faruk Kuta, announced, “That Okpebholo Monday of APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” amid cheers from APC supporters at the collation center in Benin City, the state capital, on Sunday night.

Kuta, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, in Niger State, declared the winner after a series of recesses.

The APC candidate won in over 10 of the 18 local government areas, while the PDP candidate secured marginal victories in the remaining local councils. The APC also gained control in two of the three battleground senatorial districts in the state.

While the results were being collated, some youths loyal to the PDP protested at the INEC facility, accusing the APC of inflating figures in some polling units.

Governor Godwin Obaseki had earlier stormed the collation center to protest the exclusion of PDP agents from the venue but was escorted out of the premises by armed security agents.

At the collation center, PDP agent Tony Iyoha called for the suspension of the entire election over alleged irregularities.

Similarly, the party’s chairman in the state, Anthony Aziegbemi, claimed that discrepancies between the figures on the EC8 form did not match those on INEC’s IReV platform.

The PDP Governors’ Forum also urged the electoral umpire to respect the will of the people of Edo State and ensure that their votes counted. The Forum alleged that the exercise was marred by electoral malpractices.

The PDP governors, led to Edo by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, questioned some of the results announced, arguing that they did not align with those on IReV.

According to INEC, 2,249,780 persons with Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) participated in the election to decide Obaseki’s successor on Saturday, September 21, 2024.