After months of extreme politicking in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the keenly contested Saturday, September 21, 2024 gubernatorial election in the South-South state.
Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 247,274 votes and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) who came a distant third in the race with 22,763 votes. Fourteen other candidates contested the seat but got less than the three frontline candidates.
“That Okpebholo Monday of APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” INEC’s Returning Officer for the poll, Prof Faruk Kuta, said at exactly 09:27 pm, to delightful cheers from APC supporters at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital on Sunday.
Kuta, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, in Niger State, proclaimed the winner of the election after a series of breaks.
The APC candidate cleared over 10 of the 18 local government areas, leaving the PDP and other candidates with minimal victory in the other local councils. The APC held unto control in two of the three landmark senatorial districts in the state.
Okpebholo, the Edo Central Senator, utilized huge impact in his senatorial district, and teaming up with his colleague in the National Assembly from Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, to overcome Ighodalo, the endorsed candidate of the outgoing Lead Representative, Godwin Obaseki.
Okpebholo’s triumph could likewise be credited to his alliance with Dennis Idahosa, his running mate who is a federal lawmaker; and Obaseki’s alienated deputy, Philip Shaibu.
The announcement on Sunday evening brings Okpebholo closer to accomplishing his goal of emerging Lead Representative 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, decamped from the APC to the PDP in the intensity of a squabble within the APC and fallout with his predecessor, Oshiomhole. After he was denied the APC gubernatorial ticket, Obaseki teamed up with the PDP and secured the ticket to defeat APC’s Osagie Ize-Iyamu to affirm his second term, which will end on November 12, 2024.
Obaseki campaigned heavily for Ighodalo, while Oshiomhole was a central figure for Okpebholo’s campaign, attending rallies and interviews on behalf of the APC candidate.
