Monday Okpebholo wins Edo governorship election

Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been declared winner of the Edo governorship election.

Farouk Adamu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer, announced the results in Benin City, the Edo state capital, on Sunday.

“I, Prof. Faruq Adamu Kuta, certify that I’m the returning officer for the Edo state governorship election held on September 21, 2024,” he said.

“That Monday Okpebholo of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the election and returned elected.”

Okpebholo, a serving senator, 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 with 22, 763 votes.

The APC won the election in 11 of the 18 LGAs in Edo, while the PDP secured victories in the remaining seven LGAs.

The off-cycle election in the south-south state was contested by 17 candidates.

Prior to the final declaration, some PDP supporters had staged a protest against the collation of the election results.

The demonstration took place outside the INEC headquarters where the results were collated.

During the collation exercise, Tony Iyoha, a PDP agent at the collation centre, alleged electoral fraud, claiming that some results were “manufactured” in favour of the APC.