INEC conducts first conclusive governorship election in 16 months

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has conducted its first conclusive governorship election under Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the commission.

At exactly 4:07pm on Thursday, Kayode Soremekun, returning officer for the Edo state governorship election, declared Godwin Obaseki, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the September 28 election, saying he polled a total of 319,483 votes to defeat Osagie Ize-Iyamu, his closest rival, who had 253,173 votes.

Since October when President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Yakubu, INEC has organised two governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, and both of them were not concluded on first ballot.

In Kogi, INEC declared the election inconclusive, explaining that the margin between the two leading candidates was less than the number of the cancelled votes.

The commission gave the number of cancelled votes as 49,953 and the margin between Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Idris Wada, the incumbent governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), as 41,353.

In Bayelsa, INEC announced the cancellation of election in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa state, consequently rendering the governorship election inconclusive.

Baritor Kpaghir, the resident electoral commissioner, had cited violence and irregularities as the reason.