APC’s Okpebholo scores highest votes, set to be declared winner

The candidate for All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Edo State governorship election, Monday Okpebholo, has scored the highest votes in the election and is expected to be declared the winner.

Although the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to officially declare a winner, Mr Okpebholo, according to results collated by the electoral body in Edo State, scored 291,667 votes.

His major contender, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), came second with 247,274 votes, leaving Labour Party’s (LP) Olumide Akpata with 22,763.

The APC candidate also won in 11 of the state’s 18 local governments, while the PDP candidate won in the remaining seven.

To emerge as the winner, a candidate must have the highest votes and at least 25 per cent of the votes in at least two-thirds (12) of the state’s 18 local government areas (LGAs). Mr Okpebholo has met this criteria, according to a PREMIUM TIMES review of official results declared by INEC.

INEC is expected to formally declare the winner later tonight.

How the candidates fared

There were 17 candidates in the governorship contest, but it appeared to be a three-person race between the candidates of the Labour Party, PDP, and APC.

The race was eventually a keen contest between the PDP and APC, both of which were accused by election observers of vote-buying.

Issues in the elections

On Saturday, Yiaga Africa, one of the election observation groups, reported that there were cases of vote-buying and logistical challenges in the elections.

The organisation noted that the agents of the two major political parties – APC and PDP – were seen bribing voters with N10,000 each in some polling units, especially in Igueben and Ikpoba/Okha LGAs.

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) Election Analysis Centre (EAC) corroborated this in a statement posted on X. It added that fake news also featured prominently in the Edo elections.

Although it noted that the elections were peaceful, CDD-West Africa explained that “prevailing socio-economic” challenges and the rising cost of petrol “would no doubt make vote-buying an appealing prospect for politicians.”

PDP rejects results

While the PDP rejected the outcome of the elections, saying it could be dubbed as the worst polls in the history of Nigeria, the APC, through its state chairman, Jarret Tenebe, defended the election as the fairest and most representative in the state’s history.

Some PDP supporters also staged a protest at INEC headquarters in Edo State.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the outgoing governor, Mr Obaseki, visited the INEC office in Benin City, Edo State, in the early hours of Sunday to protest the results collation process which he and his party, PDP, claimed had been compromised against them.

Mr Obaseki held a four-hour meeting with INEC officials and Frank Mba, a deputy inspector general of police.

The governor’s visit heightened tension, with APC through its national secretary, Ajibola Basiru, accusing him of behaving like a thug.

The PDP candidate, Mr Ighodalo, also raised concerns over what he described as complicity between INEC officials and the police when the collation of results of two LGAs — Oredo and Ikpoba/Okha — were moved to the collation centre in Benin city.

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He said the action was aimed at subverting the elections and “the will of Edo people.”

Yiaga Africa, the elections observation group, earlier on Sunday said moving the results collation of the two LGAs violates the established procedure for results collation.

Voter apathy

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that more than 2.2 million voters were expected to cast their votes in the elections, but the results announced revealed that voter apathy in Nigeria’s elections has continued, with a low turnout recorded in the state’s 18 LGAs.

Data on INEC’s portal shows that there are 2,629,025 registered voters in the state, but only 2,249,780 voters collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) and were thus eligible to vote. Less than 700,000 eventually voted in the election.

Elections observers raise concerns over INEC transparency

Various election observation groups including Yiaga Africa, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, Kimpact Development Initiative, ElectHER and TAF Africa, have raised concerns about the transparency of INEC in the Edo Elections.

“Reports of disruptions at ward and local government collation centres, including intimidation of INEC officials and attempts to collate results contrary to the provision of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, raise significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process,” the groups said in a joint statement.

They acknowledged “INEC’s recent statement recognising reports of results mutilation and its commitment to investigate and address any proven violations.”

The groups, citing section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, urged INEC to “review any declarations and returns where results were not declared voluntarily or violated provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC regulations, and guidelines.”

The groups also urged the security agencies to stop interfering in the collation process and to ensure accredited party agents, the media and election observers are granted full access to collation centres.