After months of intense political campaigns in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the highly competitive governorship election held on Saturday, September 21, 2024, in the South-South state.
Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes, defeating Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), who finished third with 22,361 votes. Fourteen other candidates participated but failed to match the vote counts of the top contenders.
“Monday Okpebholo of the APC, having met the legal requirements, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” announced INEC’s Returning Officer, Prof. Faruk Kuta, at 9:27 p.m., to the cheers of APC supporters at the collation center in Benin City, the state capital, on Sunday.
Kuta, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, declared the results after several breaks in the collation process.
The APC candidate won in more than 10 of the 18 local government areas, leaving the PDP candidate with narrow victories in the remaining councils. The APC also claimed two of the three key senatorial districts in the state.
See table showing the breakdown of votes by LGAs for the top three candidates:
| LGA | APC | LP | PDP |
| Igueben | 5907 | 494 | 8470 |
| Esan West | 12952 | 342 | 11004 |
| Owan West | 12277 | 201 | 11284 |
| Uhunmwonde | 8776 | 767 | 9339 |
| Ovia North East | 13225 | 1675 | 15311 |
| Esan South East | 8398 | 98 | 14199 |
| Egor | 16760 | 1966 | 14658 |
| Akoko Edo | 34847 | 2239 | 15865 |
| Esan Central | 10990 | 418 | 8618 |
| Esan North East | 10648 | 194 | 12522 |
| Ovia South West | 10150 | 849 | 10260 |
| Orhionmwon | 16059 | 556 | 14614 |
| Owan East | 19380 | 446 | 14189 |
| Etsako East | 20167 | 604 | 9683 |
| Etsako Central | 11906 | 381 | 8455 |
| Etsako West | 32107 | 2116 | 17483 |
| Oredo | 30780 | 5389 | 24938 |
| Ikpoba-Okha | 16338 | 4026 | 26382 |
| 291667 | 22361 | 247274 |
Okpebholo, the Edo Central Senator, leveraged significant influence in his senatorial district, and joined forces with his colleague in the National Assembly from Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, to defeat Ighodalo, the anointed candidate of the outgoing governor, Godwin Obaseki.
Okpebholo’s victory could also be attributed to his alliance with Dennis Idahosa, his running mate who is a federal lawmaker; and Obaseki’s estranged deputy, Philip Shaibu.
The declaration on Sunday evening brings Okpebholo closer to achieving his goal of becoming governor of the state and places his party, the APC, on the cusp of a return to power at the Dennis Osadebe Government House.
The APC lost power in the state in 2020 after the incumbent, Godwin Obaseki, defected from the party to the PDP in the heat of an intra-party squabble and fallout with his predecessor, Oshiomhole. After he was denied the APC governorship ticket, Obaseki joined the PDP and clinched the ticket to defeat APC’s Osagie Ize-Iyamu to seal his second term which will end on November 12, 2024.
Obaseki campaigned strongly for Ighodalo, while Oshiomhole was a focal figure for Okpebholo’s campaign, attending rallies and interviews on behalf of the APC candidate.
Protests, Allegations Of Irregularities
Okpebholo was declared winner of Saturday’s election amid protests by supporters of the PDP who strongly posited that the results were fabricated and did not represent the will of the people.
There were protests in parts of the state capital and outside the INEC collation centre, which was heavily guarded for the collation exercise.
Earlier in the day, Obaseki stormed the collation centre to protest the exclusion of PDP agents from the venue but was escorted out of the premises by armed security agents.
At the collation centre, 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, explained that the discrepancies between figures on the EC8 form don’t tally with those on INEC’s IReV platform.
The PDP Governors’ Forum also asked the electoral umpire to respect the will of the people of Edo State and let their votes count. The Forum alleged that the exercise was fraught with electoral malpractices.
The PDP governors led to Edo by Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, faulted some of the results announced, saying they don’t tally with those on IReV.
According to INEC, 2,249,780 persons with Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) decided Obaseki’s successor on Saturday, September 21, 2024.
Edo is one of the eight states where governorship elections are held off-season due to litigations and court judgements. Others are Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun and Ondo.