Breaking: APC’s Okpebholo dusts PDP, LP, wins Edo guber poll

Sen. Monday Okpebholo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, has emerged victorious in the September 21 Edo State governorship election.

Okpebholo polled a total of 291,667 votes to beat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who collected 247,655 votes, according to the results from 18 local government areas announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday evening.

Mr. Olumide Akpata (SAN) of the Labour Party (LP) came a distant third with a total of 22,763 votes.

Announcing the result on Sunday, the Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Faruq Adamu Kuta, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, said Okpebholo won the election after securing the highest number of votes.

He declared: “I, Prof. Faruq Adamu Kuta, I certify that I’m the Returning officer for the Edo state governorship election held on September 21, 2024… That Okpebholo of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the election and returned elected.”

The election, one of the off-cycle polls in 2024, featured 17 candidates, consisting of 16 males and one female.

Meanwhile, before the election result was announced, PDP candidate Asue Ighodalo stated that the election could be the worst in Nigeria’s history, adding that more than 20 polling units across the state were affected by various discrepancies.

Similarly, the governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, who was escorted out of the INEC premises by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Frank Mba, in the early hours of Sunday, stated that his visit to the collation centre was to obtain first-hand information about the collation process after unsuccessful attempts to reach the state’s REC officer regarding reports that PDP agents were not allowed into the collation process.

Here is the breakdown of how voters cast their votes across the 18 local governments in the state.

IGUEBEN LGA

REG. VOTERS: 54549

ACCREDITED: 15274

PDP: 8,470

APC: 5,907

LP: 494

VALID: 14,989

REJECTED: 278

TOTAL VOTE CAST: 15,267

ESAN WEST LGA

REG:112067

ACCREDITED: 25,702

APC: 12,952

PDP: 11,004

LP: 342

Valid: 24691

Rejected: 693

Total cast: 25384

OWAN WEST LGA

REGISTERED 67076

ACCREDITED 24311

APC: 12277

PDP:11284

LP: 201

VALID:23904

REJECTED: 391

TOTAL: 24,295

UHUMWONDE LGA

REGISTERED:92,169

ACCREDITED:20,044

APC: 8,776

PDP:9,339

LP:769

VALID:19,223

REJECTED:553

TOTAL:19,776

OVIA NORTH-EAST LGA

REGISTERED: 177,106

ACCREDITED: 32,441

APC: 13,225

PDP: 15,311

LP: 1,675

VALID: 30,783

REJECTED: 1,312

TOTAL: 32,095

ESAN SOUTH-EAST LGA

REGISTERED: 90,240

ACCREDITED: 23,390

APC: 8,398

PDP: 14,199

LP: 98

VALID: 22,780

REJECTED: 356

TOTAL: 23,136

EGOR LGA

REGISTERED: 242,266

ACCREDITED: 35,463

APC: 16,760

PDP: 14,658

LP: 1,966

VALID: 34,022

REJECTED: 1,018

TOTAL: 35,040

AKOKO EDO LGA

REGISTERED: 144,379

ACCREDITED: 54,395

APC: 34,837

PDP: 15,865

LP: 2,239

VALID: 53,547

REJECTED: 331

TOTAL: 53,878

ESAN CENTRAL LGA

REGISTERED:68,338

ACCREDITED:20,580

APC: 10,990

PDP:8,618

LP: 418

VALID: 20,198

REJECTED: 361

TOTAL: 20,559

ESAN NORTH-EAST LGA

REGISTERED:106,280

ACCREDITED:24,430

APC:10,648

PDP:12,522

LP:194

VALID:23,637

REJECTED:674

TOTAL: 24,311

OVIA SOUTH-WEST LGA

REGISTERED:112,091

ACCREDITED: 23,196

APC: 10,150

PDP: 10,260

LP: 849

VALID: 21,710

REJECTED: 1,086

TOTAL: 22,796

ORHIOMWON LGA

REGISTERED: 139,260

ACCREDITED: 33,196

APC: 16,059

PDP: 14,614

LP: 556

VALID: 31,559

REJECTED: 1,091

TOTAL: 32,650

OWAN EAST LGA

REGISTERED:106,252

ACCREDITED:34,618

APC:19,380

PDP:14,189

LP:446

VALID:34,157

REJECTED:420

TOTAL: 34,577

ETSAKO EAST LGA

REGISTERED:102,754

ACCREDITED:35,084

APC: 20,167

PDP:9,683

LP:604

VALID:30,926

REJECTED:435

TOTAL: 31,361

ETSAKO CENTRAL LGA

REGISTERED:59,430

ACCREDITED:21,465

APC:11,906

PDP:8,455

LP:381

VALID:20,851

REJECTED:294

TOTAL: 21,145

ETSAKO WEST LGA

REGISTERED:186,449

ACCREDITED:54,304

APC: 32,107

PDP:17,483

LP:2,116

VALID:52,226

REJECTED:1,188

TOTAL: 53,414

OREDO LGA

REGISTERED: 35,6442

ACCREDITED: 64,812

APC: 30,780

PDP: 24,938

LP: 5,389

VALID: 62,703

REJECTED: 1,339

TOTAL: 64,042

IKPOBA-OKHA LGA

REGISTERED:

ACCREDITED:

APC: 16,338

PDP:26,382

LP: 4,026

VALID:48784

REJECTED:1055

TOTAL: 50,239