Politics
Irregularities mar Okpebholo’s victory in Edo guber election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) late Sunday, declared Senator Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the Edo State governor-elect, after a highly contentious election marred by irregularities on Saturday.
Farouk Adamu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returning officer, announced the results in Benin City, the state capital, on Sunday night.
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. Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata came third with 22,763 votes.
The APC candidate won in 11 of the state’s 18 local governments, according to results announced at the INEC headquarters in Benin. Business Hallmark had sampled opinions on the streets of Benin and Uromi in the lead of to the election, and the feedback reflected a huge amount of support for the PDP candidate, Ighodalo.
However, that’s perhaps only half of the story. Observations by our reporters showed that the election witnessed massive vote buying, even as several figures that came out of the various wards, especially in Edo North, witnessed over voting.
Suspecting foul play, Umaru Fintri, governor of Adamawa State, who headed the PDP observer team (situation room), began to call figures he said were collated from the party’s agents from polling units, which according to him, showed that the party’s candidate, Ighodalo won the election. That did not matter. Neither did protests from the party’s supporters, who insisted that the results had been doctored.
They were dispersed with tear gas by the police. The party had raised concerns over the posting of Anugbum Onuoha, a cousin of Nyesom Wike, minister of the FCT and political adversary of Godwin Obaseki, the incumbent PDP governor of the state, as the returning officer for the election. Tony Aziegbemi, the state PDP chairman, had specifically demanded that Onuoha be replaced, but the electoral body refused and advised the party to focus on selling its candidate. In the early hours of Sunday, Obaseki stormed the INEC office to protest alleged manipulation of the results but was forced out of the office in Benin by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Frank Mba.
The APC said it won fair and square, and that it was a triumph of democracy.
“Today, we celebrate the triumph of democracy in Nigeria, particularly in Edo State,” said Philip Shaibu, the embattled deputy governor of the state who has since defected to the APC.
“I commend the resilient people of Edo for their patience and active participation in the elections.
“Your voices were heard through your votes for Senator Monday Okpebholo and Hon. Dennis Idahosa of the All Progressives Congress. I say a big congratulations to the newly elected governor, His Excellency, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
“This victory solidifies the power of the people, affirming the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
He may have a point. Vote-buying has become a part of the democratic process, and feedback suggests that the APC clearly outspent the PDP in the election. However, that does not tell the entire story, and election observer groups were unanimous in their condemnation of the process, raising concerns about the transparency of INEC.
They made their position known in a statement jointly signed by the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, ElectHER and TAF Africa on Sunday.
The statement read, “We, the undersigned accredited civil society organisations observing the 2024 Edo Governorship Election, express concern over the transparency of the ongoing results collation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Reports of disruptions at ward and local government collation centres, including intimidation of INEC officials and attempts to collate results contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, raise significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process.
“We acknowledge INEC’s recent statement recognizing reports of result mutilation and its commitment to investigate and address any proven violations.”
It added, “In light of this, we urge INEC to invoke its powers under Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 to review any declarations and returns, where results were not declared voluntarily or violated provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC regulations and guidelines.
“We further call on security agencies to refrain from interference in the collation process and to ensure that accredited party agents, the media, and election observers are granted full access to collation centres. We wish to emphasize that the role of security agencies in the election is to safeguard the process and not to create a situation that will undermine the transparency of the process, and thus, impact negatively on
For most part of the collation process, PDP agents pushed back against results from various LGAs, describing some of them as “manufactured”, and perhaps, for good reasons.
Tony Iyoha, an agent of the PDP, accused the electoral body of manufacturing the results of the poll.
Iyoha spoke in an interview with Arise TV shortly after the suspension of the collation of the results on Sunday.
“It’s what we have been reduced to as Nigerians in this country, where a people will go out and vote, and after exercising their franchise, you come out and manufacture,” Iyoha said.
“You heard me. I constantly use the word. I’m a doctor of engineering and as somebody, who has gone through a lot of elections. I think this is another low.
“This is the first time. It’s the first time we see people come out. They chose a candidate, who never talked to the people that he wants to govern.
“The same people that came out that he didn’t speak to on what he was going to do for them on the issues.
“And then INEC comes out to tell us that this same person that didn’t talk to them at all, as against other candidates that even spent time with them, talked to them, came on Arise, came on AIT, on Channels.
“It’s the first time we’re seeing you telling us that the people came together to vote this person.
“Look at those numbers. You were here. Then your cameras were probably at the back. I didn’t know if these ones were here too.
“When they announced the Esan figure, you heard the laughs at the back. It’s shameful, my friend.”
The PDP agent also questioned the credibility of INEC, citing instances, where collation in most wards and LGAs was not conducted according to regulations.
“Collation in most local governments, or in most wards, were not done. From INEC regulations, collation starts from the ward, you go to the local government collation,” Iyoha said.
“From the local government coalition is what we have here today. You come to the state coalition center.
“Yesterday, results were moved from the ward. No collation done.”
Several results sheets in parts of the state uploaded to the INEC portal appeared mutilated, while in several instances, the numbers didn’t add up.
For instance, in Akuri Polling Station Imanaba III, Okpalla, Etsako local government area, the number of accredited voters came in at 111, but the APC got 100 votes, the PDP 22, and the Labour Party one, which means that 123 people voted, while 111 were accredited.
It gets even more interesting. At Osholo Primary School, Osholo polling unit in Weppa, Etsako local government, 213 voters were accredited, but APC had 352 votes, the PDP 52, and Labour Party 1, a total of 406 votes.
The result is similar in Iddo polling unit, Sabo II, Okpella, Etsako East local government. Here, 250 voters were accredited, but APC got 253 votes, PDP 97, and Labour Party 11.
In a address to the state on Sunday night, Obaseki described the election as “not just a tragedy, but a travesty of democracy.”
Earlier on Sunday morning, the Director General of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, alongside members of the PDP, protested at the INEC collation office.
Iduoriyekemwen said the PDP was cruising to victory but information available to them showed that there were plans to juggle the final results that would not reflect the wishes of the voters. He wouldn’t believe that his fears were eventually confirmed.
He had equally alleged that the leader of the APC in the state, Adams Oshiomhole, and reinstated deputy governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, were thumb-printing ballot papers to close the gap with which the APC was leading.
“We have information that the result is being skewed to favour Okpehbolo, when it is clear that our candidate is coasting to victory,” he said.
“We will not accept this, we will contest it,” he had argued at about 2:27 am when he led the protesters to the venue.
They were dispersed by the police shortly after speaking to journalists through the barricade.
Earlier on Saturday, INEC had acknowledged a second complaint regarding discrepancies in polling unit results.
In a statement posted on its official X account late Saturday night, the electoral umpire assured the public of swift action, vowing to investigate allegations of incorrect figures being entered into result sheets. But that was where it ended.
Ighodalo, the PDP candidate, had also lamented the alleged irregularities in the election, noting that it was probably the worst election in the country’s history.
He stated this on Sunday during a press conference organized by the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, at the party’s situation room in Benin City, the state capital, as chaired by Governor Fintiri.
Ighodalo said, “From our perspective, the way these elections are going, they are probably going to be the worst elections in the history of this country.
“We have information, for instance, where we have over 20 polling units, where the accredited voters are less than the total votes, which is not possible.
The PDP governorship candidate gave instances of voting irregularities in the Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo polling unit.
In his remarks on the occasion, Fintiri had said, “I’m quite aware of the Electoral Act provision. I did not announce results, I only informed the public of the exact figure from our collation agent that was ongoing before INEC disrupted the process and moved the collation to the INEC headquarters, which is also contrary to the Electoral Act provision.
“It’s quite unfortunate that in the 21st century, all countries are moving forward with their electoral processes, we’re still moving backward. Powers that were not given to individuals are being exercised. The REC isn’t supposed to collate results, he’s supposed to conduct the election, and oversee that the process is fair and free; even at the local government and ward collation.”
