Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was yesterday declared the winner of the Edo State 2024 governorship election, sparking celebration in the state.
He polled 291,667 votes to beat his closest marker, Dr Asue Ighodalo, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who scored 247,655 votes. Okpebholo was better with 44,012 votes and emerged victorious in Edo’s keenest governorship poll ever.
Labour Party, LP, Standard bearer, Olumide Akpata, came a distant third with 22,763 votes.
An elated Okpebholo told Edo people that they had elected the best person for the job and should expect the best from him.
His victory came amid complaints from Governor Obaseki, the PDP Campaign Council, PDP governors, and civil society organisations, who picked holes in the hitches that trailed the collation process midway and urged the INEC to address the situation.
To emerge victorious, Okpebholo won 11 of the 18 local councils of the state but one of the three senatorial districts. He was dominant in Edo North where Senator Adams Oshiomhole hails from but lost his Edo Central and Edo South narrowly to Ighodalo, who is also from Edo Central.
In Edo North, the APC candidate polled 130,684 votes compared to PDP’s 76,959 votes and LP’s 5,987.
In Edo Central it was APC (48,895); PDP (54,813) and LP (1,546). And in Edo South, it was Okpebholo (112,088 votes); Ighodalo (115,502) and Akpata (15,230).
The 11 LGAs that Okpebholo won including Governor Godwin Obaseki’s Orhionmwon are Etsako West, Etsako East, Akofo Edo, Owan East, Owan West, Etsako Central, Esan West, Esan North-East, Esan central, Egor, and Oredo. The
Ighodalo prevailed in seven LGAs, namely Esan North-East, Esan South-East, Igueben, Ovia North-East, Ovia South-West, Uhunwonde and Ikpoba-Okha.
Winners
The major winners include President Bola Tinubu, Okpebholo himself, who became a senator in his first attempt, a feat he repeated, yesterday, by becoming governor-elect.
Another major winner is Edo North Senator, and immediate past Edo Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who extracted his pound of flesh from his estranged successor, Governor Godwin Obaseki.
Oshiomhole was instrumental in the election of Obaseki in 2016 on the platform of the APC. However, when as APC national chairman, Oshiomhole ensured that Obaseki was denied the APC re-election ticket, the governor decamped to the PDP, got a ticket and eventually won his re-election. In the weekend’s election Oshiomhole fought hard to stop Obaseki from producing his successor and succeeded.