At exactly 2.45 pm yesterday, Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was returned as winner of the Edo State governorship election, ending three months of rigorous, testy and acrimonious campaigns that heated up the polity.
Declaring the final results yesterday at the Benin office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, State Returning Officer, Professor Akpofure Rim-Rukeh who is the Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Petroleum, Efurun, said Obaseki met the requirements to be so declared, having polled 307,955 votes to beat his main rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who scored 223,619 votes. Obaseki won in 13 of the 18 local councils, leaving five for Ize-Iyamu. The governor won the seven local councils in Edo South Senatorial District, five in Edo Central and one out of the six in Edo North. Conversely, Ize-Iyamu won five of the six local councils in Edo North. Curiously, Ize-Iyamu lost in his Orhionmwon Local Government area. In essence, Obaseki won Edo South and Edo Central while Ize-Iyamu won Edo North. The announcement of Obaseki as winner elicited wild jubilation in Edo as people trooped out in celebration.
The victory also generated a groundswell of felicitations for an elated Governor Obaseki, who thanked Edo people for their faith in him and promised sustenance of development in his second term.
However, Pastor Ize-Iyamu and the Edo APC Campaign Council cried foul, claiming that the poll was massively manipulated for Obaseki and added that they would meet to decide on the next line of action.
Meanwhile, several political dignitaries saluted Obaseki on his victory, President Muhammadu Buhari, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Ben Ayade (Cross River), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Douye Diri (Bayelsa), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) and former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi.
