The announcement brings Okpebholo closer to his goal of becoming governor, positioning the APC for a return to power.
After months of political activity in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the highly contested September 21, 2024, gubernatorial election.
Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes, surpassing Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes, and Labour Party (LP) candidate Olumide Akpata, who finished with 22,761 votes. Fourteen other candidates participated but had significantly lower vote counts.
“Monday Okpebholo of the APC, having met the legal requirements, is declared the winner and duly elected,” announced INEC Returning Officer Prof. Faruk Kuta, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, at 9:27 pm, to cheers from APC supporters in Benin City.
Okpebholo dominated 10 of the 18 local government areas, with the PDP winning narrowly in the remaining councils. APC gained control of two out of three key senatorial districts.
Okpebholo, the Edo Central Senator, leveraged his influence in his district and teamed up with Adams Oshiomhole, his National Assembly colleague from Edo North, to defeat Ighodalo, the outgoing governor’s endorsed candidate.
His win can also be linked to his running mate, Dennis Idahosa, a federal lawmaker, and Philip Shaibu, the former deputy governor who had fallen out with Governor Godwin Obaseki.
The victory puts the APC on the verge of regaining control of the Edo State Government House after losing it in 2020. At the time, Obaseki defected to the PDP following a fallout with Oshiomhole and won re-election under the new party’s platform.
Obaseki had actively campaigned for Ighodalo, while Oshiomhole became a key figure in Okpebholo’s campaign, frequently appearing at rallies and in interviews on behalf of the APC candidate.
Protests and Allegations of Irregularities
Despite the declaration, the announcement was met with protests from PDP supporters, who claimed the results were rigged and did not reflect the people’s will.
Protests erupted in parts of Benin City and outside the heavily guarded INEC collation center. Governor Obaseki personally went to the collation center to protest the exclusion of PDP agents but was escorted out by security personnel.
At the collation center, PDP agent Tony Iyoha demanded the suspension of the election, citing widespread irregularities. The party’s state chairman, Anthony Aziegbemi, also pointed to discrepancies between the results on the EC8 forms and those displayed on INEC’s IReV platform.
The PDP Governors’ Forum called for INEC to respect the will of the people of Edo State, alleging electoral malpractice during the process. Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, representing the PDP governors, questioned some results, claiming they did not match figures from the IReV portal.
INEC stated that 2,249,780 registered voters in the state were eligible to decide Obaseki’s successor.
Edo is one of eight states where off-season governorship elections are held due to court rulings, alongside Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo.
