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Edo Decides: Candidates Of PDP, APC Wins Polling Units.
— As INEC Begins To Upload Results In Its Portal.
On Saturday, September 21, 2024, the people of Edo State in South-South Nigeria voted to elect a new governor to succeed the incumbent, Godwin Obaseki, whose constitutional eight-year double terms will end on November 12, 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.
According to INEC, there are 2,629,025 total number of registered voters and 4,519 polling units in Edo State. Out of this figure, 2,249,780 (85.57%) have Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) and will decide Obaseki’s successor.
Though 17 candidates are jostling for the office, analysts have described the forthcoming poll as a three-horse race involving Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).
In terms of party strongholds, the APC has current senators in Edo North (Adams Oshiomhole) and Edo Central (Okpebholo) while the Labour Party’s senator Neda Imasuen is from Edo South where Akpata hails from.
Meanwhile, the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Asue Ighodalo, and his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Senator Monday Okpebholo, are in a tight race as the Independent National Electoral Commission uploads the results of Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.
As of the time of filing this report, INEC had uploaded 97 per cent of election results onto the Results Viewing portal.
Despite early morning rains, which delayed the arrival of materials at the polling units, the election witnessed a large turnout of voters across the state.
A preliminary analysis of election results so far uploaded on the IReV indicated that the APC candidate is leading in the Edo North Senatorial District, while the PDP candidate leads in the Edo South Senatorial District.
Edo State has a total of 18 Local Government Areas, divided into Edo North, Edo South and Edo Central. Traditionally, Edo North has always been the stronghold of the APC, while the PDP has always shown strength in Edo Central and Edo South.
However, in the last senatorial election, an APC candidate won the election in Edo Central.
The PDP and APC candidates won their polling units, while the LP candidate, Akpata, lost his polling unit.
At Ewohimi, Unit 11, Ward 1 in Esan South-East Local Government Area of the state, where PDP Ighodalo cast his ballot, he polled 200 votes, while APC Okpebholo had 45 votes.
However, the APC candidate floored his PDP counterpart at Unit 03, Ward 1, Uwessan in Esan Central Local Government Area of the state, where he (Okpebholo) cast his ballot. Okpebholo polled 102 votes, while both Ighodalo and the Labour Party candidate, Akpata, received one vote each.
The Edo APC leader, Oshiomhole, delivered his polling unit to the APC. At Iyamho, Ward 10, Unit 01 in Etsako West Local Government Area, where the former governor voted, the APC polled 403 votes, while the PDP and ADC each had one vote.
At Polling Unit 19, Ward 04 in the Oredo LGA where Obaseki cast his vote, the PDP polled 127 votes, APC had 35 votes, and LP got 11 votes.
The LP candidate, Akpata, lost in his polling unit in Ward 6 of Oredo Local Government Area. He received only two votes, while the PDP polled 41 votes and the APC garnered 19.
