The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) has declared Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki re-elected.
Akpofure Rim-Rukeh, the returning officer for the Edo state governorship election and vice-chancellor of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources announced the PDP candidate, Godwin Obaseki as the winner of the Edo 2020 Governorship Election.
Mr Obaseki polled 307,955 votes to defeat his main rival, Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had 223,619 votes. He also won in 13 of the 18 local government areas and thus scored more than 25 per cent of votes cast in two-thirds of the local governments in the state to satisfy the second constitutional requirement to be declared governor.
Mr Obaseki won his first election in 2016 as a candidate of the APC, principally supported by Adams Oshiomhole, the immediate past governor and former chairman of the APC. Mr Ize-Iyamu was then the candidate of the PDP.
But in the course of his term as the governor, Mr Obaseki became estranged with Mr Oshiomhole, causing an epic political battle now capped off with his victory today.
The battle contributed to the fall of Mr Oshiomhole as the chairman of the APC. But Mr Obaseki also could not get that party’s ticket and he had to switch to the PDP with his deputy, Phillip Shaibu.
Days ahead of the election, APC leader and former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, had in a recorded broadcast made an “appeal” to the Edo electorate to “reject” Mr Obaseki, whom he dismissed as having no sound democratic credential.
Mr Obaseki won in 13 local government areas, including his home Oredo LGA, which is the largest. Mr Ize-Iyamu, on the other hand, won the remaining five local governments, including his main backer Mr Oshiomole’s Etsako West.
Mr Ize-Iyamu lost his home LGA of Orhionmwmwon.
TOTAL VOTES AS ANNOUNCED BY INEC
APC: 223,619
PDP: 307,955 (Winner)
Total valid votes: 537,407
Rejected votes: 12,835
Total votes cast: 550,242
