Benin City, Edo state – The Edo governorship election has come and gone, with Monday Okpebholo, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, adjudged the winner.
As announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Okpebholo garnered the highest number of valid votes.
Okpebholo won the election with 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 247,274 votes.
Olumide Akpata, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), came a distant third.
The APC won the election in 11 of the 18 local government areas (LGAs) in Edo, while the PDP secured victories in the remaining seven LGAs.
TimesNow.com.ng highlights some of the winners and losers from the election.
Adams Oshiomhole, the senator representing Edo North, is a major winner of the Edo governorship election 2024.
The ex-APC national chairman and erstwhile labour leader once again demonstrated his capacity in the colossal south-south state.
In the same vein, the reinstated deputy governor, Philip Shaibu, emerged as one of the biggest election winners.
Shaibu faced challenges before state lawmakers who had impeached him as Edo deputy governor. He was also involved in several disputes with Governor Godwin Obaseki leading up to the election. However, he laughed last.
Mocked by several people as ‘uneducated’, today, Okpebholo is the governor-elect of Edo state.
Just as Senator Oshiomhole said during an interview on Channels Television on Monday night, September 23, Okpebholo’s strategy seem to work for him.
Obaseki, the outgoing governor and a prominent figure within the PDP, emerges as a notable loser. His inability to secure a victory for his party casts doubt on his political influence in the state. As a two-term governor, Obaseki had hoped to position himself as a kingmaker, but this election has shown that his endorsement was not enough to sway the electorate.
Prior to the election, Ighodalo was super confident of victory. In fact, speaking shortly after casting his vote at his polling unit in Ewohimi community in Esan South East LGA on Saturday, September 21, he declared:
In the end, Ighodalo received a piece of disappointing news from the INEC’s collation office in Benin City.
In an online poll conducted by TimesNow.com.ng, Akpata emerged as the favourite to win. But during the Edo governorship election 2024, the Labour Party chieftain lost even his polling unit.
Akpata lost his polling unit to Ighodalo. The PDP flagbearer polled 41 votes to defeat the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), who garnered 32 votes at polling unit 11, Ward 06, Oredo LGA in Benin City. Okpebholo scored 19 votes.
When INEC announced the final result on Sunday, September 22, from all the 18 LGAs, Akpata had just 22,763 votes.
Of the four off-cycle elections conducted in Nigeria in 2024, the PDP has been able to claim victory in just one state (Bayelsa).
