INEC Declares APC Okpebholo Winner With 44,393 Votes Ahead PDP, No Total Accredited, Invalid Votes Announnced ~ OsazuwaAkonedo ###LP #Adams #Oshiomhole #Adamu #APC #Asue #Benin #Bola #edo #election #Faruk #Godwin #Ighodalo #INEC #Kuta #Monday #Nyesom #Obaseki #Okpebholo #PDP #Tinubu #Wike https://osazuwaakonedo.news/inec-declares-apc-okpebholo-winner-with-44393-votes-ahead-pdp-no-total-accredited-invalid-votes-announnced/23/09/2024/ #Issues Published: September 23rd, 2024 Reshared: September 23, 2024 8:22 pm Independent National Electoral Commission, InEC has failed to announce the total
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Independent National Electoral Commission, ILEC has failed to announce the total numbers of accredited voters and the total numbers of invalid and cancelled votes in the Saturday 21, 2024 Edo State Governorship election as the Commission declared the candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC Monde Opaholo as the winner of the Governorship poll with 44,393 votes ahead of his close contestant, Ashu Igudalo of the People's Democratic Party, PDP.
00:30A careful analysis of some evidences and reports of media houses who had their reporters stationed at the final results collation center in Mening City showed that the ILEC returning officer, Professor Farouk Adamukuta, Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, officially failed to announce the total numbers of the registered voters that were accredited for the election and the total invalid and cancelled votes casted during the election before declaring Opaholo winner.
00:59There are concerns that the total numbers of accredited voters to the margin difference of winning may help the court to declare an election incompensive if any of the aggrieved parties in the election is able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there were deliberate cases of disenfranchisement and other electoral irregularities.
01:19According to ILEC, Opaholo, aged 54, secured 291,667 votes to defeat Ashu Igudalo of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, who got 247,274 votes and Olumide Apata of the Labour Party, LP, who came a distant third in the race with 22,763 votes.
01:46Fourteen other candidates contested the same but got less than three front-line candidates.
01:52That Opaholo Mone of APC having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected.
02:00An ex-returning officer for the Gubapo, Professor Farouk Adamukuta, said at exactly 9.27pm to delightful cheers from APC supporters at the Coalition Centre in Benin City, the state capital, on Sunday, according to Channels Television.
02:18Adamukuta, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, MENA, in Niger State, declared the winner of the poll after a series of recesses.
02:30The APC candidate cleared over 10 of the 18 local government areas, leaving the PDP candidate with marginal victory in the other local councils.
02:40The APC gained control in two of the three battleground senatorial districts in the state.
02:47We had reported that the last Saturday Edo State gubernatorial election appeared to be a very big interest for the incumbent governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki and the former governors of Edo and River States who are currently the incumbent senator representing Edo North and FCT Minister, Adams Oshomole and Nyesomweke respectively.
03:08Nyesomweke has said he felt betrayed after he helped Governor Godwin Obaseki to secure power for his current second tenure in office through the People's Democratic Party. PDP won the then All Progressives Congress. APC National Chairman Adams Oshomole disqualified him from contesting the governorship seat on the platform of his then-political party, APC, in 2020.
03:32Adams Oshomole had in several occasions also described Governor Obaseki as a betrayal, saying he regretted choosing him as successor in 2016.
03:42President Bola Ametinubu had in 2020 called on Edo people to vote Governor Obaseki out of office and he shouldn't be given second term to rule the people but many people in the state then piqued offence on President Bola Ametinubu's statements who was only then APC National Chairman.
04:00The 2023 presidential election that got President Bola Ametinubu into power as Nigerian President has been an issue of concern to many. Scores of people believed that the 2023 election was filled with irregularities, violence, disenfranchisement of eligible voters.
04:20Manipulation of election results, among other insinuations or allegations but the Nigerian Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the political parties and candidates who contested the 2023 presidential election outcome in court were not able to prove their case of widespread margins of irregularities. Manipulation of election results.
04:40Violence. Disenfranchisement even though the Apex Court noted that there were isolated cases of the allegations which were not enough to rule otherwise against Bola Ametinubu who was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
04:54Governor Obaseki had refused to sign the traditional routine peace accord agreement on the ground that those who ought to be the promoters of peace are already causing violence ahead the gubernatorial election by thus intimidating, harassing and arresting members of his political party, PDP, to weaken the chances of PDP winning the areas where the arrested and detained party chieftains fell from, saying,
05:19the authorities at the federal government are doing so for APC to win the governorship by all means. Detention in the state meant the Benin monarch, Omonabandido Uku Akolokolu Obaewe, the second to order Bishusu's sacrificial ceremony to allow the gods or deities in Benin kingdom to avoid any act of calamity before, during and after the governorship election.
05:45And so I start. I, Professor Farouk Adamukuta, hereby satisfy that I am the returning officer for the 2024 Edo state governorship election held on the 21st of September 2024.
06:09That the election was contested. The candidate received the following votes. Party AA, 222 votes. Party A.
06:39Party A, 222 votes. Party AA, 206 votes. Party AAC, 273 votes. Party ADC, 1,956 votes.
07:09Party ADP, 1,099 votes. Party APC, 291,667 votes. Party APGA, 1,242 votes.
07:31Party APM, 151 votes. Party APP, 144 votes. Party BP, 217 votes. Party LP, 22,763 votes.
07:57Party NNDP, 1,034 votes. Party NRM, 720 votes. Party PDP, 247,274 votes.
08:24Party PRP, 635 votes. Party SDP, 537 votes. Party YPP, 296 votes. Party ZLP, 254 votes.
08:48I hereby declare the winner and is returned elected. Signed by the returning officer, Professor Farouk Adamukuta. This day, 22nd day of September 2024.
09:13God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. God bless Edo State. Thank you very much.