Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared as the winner of the keenly contested off-circle governorship election in Edo State conducted on Saturday, September 21 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
INEC’s Returning Officer for the poll, Prof Faruk Kuta, announcing the results at exactly 09:27 pm evening of Sunday, said the 54 year-old Okpebholo, 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,” the INEC Returning Officer declared
The victory was received with wild jubilation among APC supporters at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital on Sunday.
The APC candidate cleared over 10 of the 18 local government areas, leaving the PDP candidate with marginal victory in the other local councils. The APC gained control in two of the three battleground senatorial districts in the state.
See table showing the breakdown of votes by LGAs for the top three candidates:
LGA APC LP PDP
Igueben 5907 494 8470
Esan West 12952 342 11004
Owan West 12277 201 11284
Uhunmwonde 8776 767 9339
Ovia North East 13225 1675 15311
Esan South East 8398 98 14199
Egor 16760 1966 14658
Akoko Edo 34847 2239 15865
Esan Central 10990 418 8618
Esan North East 10648 194 12522
Ovia South West 10150 849 10260
Orhionmwon 16059 556 14614
Owan East 19380 446 14189
Etsako East 20167 604 9683
Etsako Central 11906 381 8455
Etsako West 32107 2116 17483
Oredo 30780 5389 24938
Ikpoba-Okha 16338 4026 26382
291667 22763 247274
Okpebholo, the Edo Central Senator, leveraged significant influence in his senatorial district, and joined forces with his colleague in the National Assembly from Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, to defeat Ighodalo, the anointed candidate of the outgoing governor, Godwin Obaseki.
Okpebholo’s victory could also be attributed to his alliance with Dennis Idahosa, his running mate who is a federal lawmaker; and Obaseki’s estranged deputy, Philip Shaibu.
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