Drama and Intrigues: Key events that played out during 2024 Edo governorship election

The 2024 Edo State governorship election has come and gone, but not without the usual political intrigues and drama.

The off-cycle governorship election held last Saturday ended with the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Monday Okpebholo, emerging as the winner in the fiercely contested exercise.

A total of 18 candidates from various political parties participated in the election.

However, the exercise was a three-horse pitting Mr Okpebholo of the APC, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Olumide Akpata.

Patience Ofure-Key of the Peoples Redemption Party was the only female flag bearer in the election. Five other women served as deputy governorship candidates.

In the end, Mr Okpebholo, a serving senator, polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger and the PDP candidate, Mr Ighodalo, who scored 247,274 votes.

Messrs Okpebholo and Ighodalo hail from the same Edo Central District, which has not produced a full-term governor since 1999.

The beginning

There was tension before the election, prompting a massive deployment of security personnel. A total of 35,000 police officers and 8,000 soldiers were deployed in the state.

On election day, voters headed to the polling units to cast their votes. However, in many polling units in some local government areas, officials and voting materials arrived late.

Esan South-East was among the local government areas where polling officials and materials arrived late, and voters in some polling units protested against the development.

Like the voters, the PDP candidate, Mr Ighodalo, who hails from the council area, later suggested that the development was happening in his strongholds to reduce his chance of victory, given that voting was to end by 2:30 p.m. in line with INEC guidelines for the election.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall, which started at about 6 a.m. on Saturday, delayed the exercise in many areas. INEC, the electoral body, consequently announced an extension of voting time where the exercise started late.

Vote-buying, underage voting

Like in other elections, there were cases of vote buying across polling units in the state.

A prominent election observation group, Yiaga Africa, reported incidents of vote buying in different polling units and wards in the state on Saturday. The group said, for instance, that it saw APC and PDP agents bribing voters with N10,000 cash.

At Polling Unit U 003 in Ward 1 in Ewohimi Community, Esan South-east Council Area, PREMIUM TIMES observed some party agents sharing snacks and food with voters, apparently as an inducement.

There was also a case of suspected underage voting in the same area.

Accusations and counter-accusations

As often witnessed in Nigerian elections, there were accusations and counter-accusations among the political actors in the state.

On Saturday, the PDP and its candidate, Mr Ighodalo, accused the opposition APC of using some “compromised, armed and uninformed” police officers to arrest and attack PDP agents and supporters in some polling units.

Earlier on Wednesday, the APC had also accused the PDP of colluding with three INEC officials to comprise the integrity of the Saturday poll.

The accusations and counter-accusations continued after Saturday’s vote when the PDP accused the APC of planning to disrupt the collation of results.

The party also alleged that the APC schemed to alter the election results.

Some PDP supporters in the state later stormed the INEC office, protesting against the results earlier released by the commission.

Voter apathy

Over 2.2 million voters were expected to cast their votes in the elections, but the results revealed that voter apathy in Nigeria’s elections has continued, with a low turnout recorded across the state’s 18 LGAs.

Data on INEC’s portal shows that there are 2,629,025 registered voters in the state, but only 2,249,780 voters collected their Permanent Voters Cards and were thus eligible to vote. Less than 700,000 eventually voted in the election.

IRev results upload

Within hours of the voting, INEC uploaded over 90 per cent of the results from various polling units in the state.

With the results trickling in, tension heightened as the PDP and the APC claimed victory and warned each other against plans to change the outcome of the poll.

Some concerned people of Edo State and party supporters were apprehensive about who would emerge victorious in the poll.

Obaseki’s dramatic late-night visit to INEC office

There was a mild drama at about 2 a.m. on Sunday when the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, stormed the INEC office to protest the planned collation process, which he and his party, the PDP, claimed had been compromised against them.

During the visit, Mr Obaseki held a four-hour meeting with INEC officials and Frank Mba, a deputy inspector-general of police who was leading a police team to ensure security for the poll.

The governor, whose tenure ends on 12 November, is the political godfather to the PDP candidate in the election, Mr Ighodalo.

The APC later slammed the governor for the visit and accused him of trying to stir up violence.

The party stressed that the visit happened while the collation of results across the various wards and local government areas was still ongoing.

Battle of godfathers

Observers said the Edo State governorship election provided a platform for battle among three political godfathers who fought to “crown” the godsons.

Governor Obaseki handpicked Mr Ighodalo as his preferred successor. Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State and 2023 LP presidential candidate, backed Mr Akpata, while Adams Oshiomohole, a former governor of Edo State and serving senator, supported Mr Okpebholo.

The election saw these three godfathers working hard to outwit one another to win the poll.

Tension and suspense during collation

Tension increased on Sunday morning when INEC began collating results from the state’s 18 local government areas.

Supporters of the various political parties were tense and attempted to gauge the election swings.

While the result collation was ongoing, the PDP quickly began a press conference due to apparent discomfort with figures announced by the INEC’s returning officers for various local government areas.

It was organised by Governor Obaseki and the PDP candidate, Mr Ighodalo, while Governor Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State read out the text of the conference.

At the conference, Mr Fintiri announced election results from various local government areas, which he claimed were obtained by PDP agents from various polling units. The PDP claimed the results differed from those collated by INEC at the commission’s centre.

He announced that the party rejected the outcome of the election.

The Adamawa governor was criticised by the APC, which accused him of usurping the electoral body’s powers by announcing election results ahead of time.

However, he denied the allegation, arguing that he merely “reeled out” results submitted by their agents from local government areas.

The PDP Governors Forum later issued a warning to INEC and the APC. The governors asked the electoral body to ensure it declares results that represent the wishes of the people.

Final result declaration

It was a night of drama on Sunday when INEC announced the final results of the Saturday poll and declared Mr Okpebholo the winner. That was despite stiff opposition from Tony Iyoha, the PDP agent, at the collation centre.

Mr Iyoha alleged that the votes announced by INEC were “manufactured” because they did not reflect the wishes of the people of Edo State.

Meanwhile, before the declaration, there was a heavy security presence in and around the INEC collation centre in Benin City.

How the votes were shared among candidates

According to the results declared by INEC, Mr Okpebholo of the APC won 11 local government areas, while the PDP candidate, Mr Ighodalo, won in the remaining seven.

The LP candidate, Mr Akpata, did not win any local government area.

Mr Okpebholo won the council areas of Esan West, Owan West, Akoko Edo, Egor, Esan Central, Orhionmwon, Owan East, Etsako East, Etsako Central, Oredo, and Etsako West.

On his part, Mr Ighodalo won in Esan Central, Esan North-east, Ovia North-east, Ovia-South-west, Uhunmwode, Igueben, and Ikpoba-Okha.