Ighodalo, Okpebholo in tight race as INEC uploads results
The candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Asue Ighodalo, and his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Senator Monday Okpebholo, are in a tight race as the Independent National Electoral Commission uploads the results of Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.
As of the time of filing this report, INEC had uploaded 97 per cent of election results onto the Results Viewing portal.
Despite early morning rains, which delayed the arrival of materials at the polling units, the election witnessed a large turnout of voters across the state.
A preliminary analysis of election results so far uploaded on the IReV indicated that the APC candidate is leading in the Edo North Senatorial District, while the PDP candidate leads in the Edo South Senatorial District.
Edo State has a total of 18 Local Government Areas, divided into Edo North, Edo South and Edo Central. Traditionally, Edo North has always been the stronghold of the APC, while the PDP has always shown strength in Edo Central and Edo South.
However, in the last senatorial election, an APC candidate won the election in Edo Central.
Ighodalo, Okpebholo win polling units
The PDP and APC candidates won their polling units, while the LP candidate, Akpata, lost his polling unit.
At Ewohimi, Unit 11, Ward 1 in Esan South-East Local Government Area of the state, where PDP Ighodalo cast his ballot, he polled 200 votes, while APC Okpebholo had 45 votes.
However, the APC candidate floored his PDP counterpart at Unit 03, Ward 1, Uwessan in Esan Central Local Government Area of the state, where he (Okpebholo) cast his ballot. Okpebholo polled 102 votes, while both Ighodalo and the Labour Party candidate, Akpata, received one vote each.
The Edo APC leader, Oshiomhole, delivered his polling unit to the APC. At Iyamho, Ward 10, Unit 01 in Etsako West Local Government Area, where the former governor voted, the APC polled 403 votes, while the PDP and ADC each had one vote.
At Polling Unit 19, Ward 04 in the Oredo LGA where Obaseki cast his vote, the PDP polled 127 votes, APC had 35 votes, and LP got 11 votes.
Meanwhile, the LP candidate, Akpata, lost in his polling unit in Ward 6 of Oredo Local Government Area. He received only two votes, while the PDP polled 41 votes and the APC garnered 19.
Calculations by Sunday PUNCH from the results uploaded on INEC IREV late Saturday evening indicated that Okpebholo and Ighodalo are in a tight race for victory.
In wards 1, 2, 4 and 6, which had a total of 43 polling units in Igueben LG, Ighodalo led with 2,778 votes, while Okpebholo polled 2,189 votes. In three wards in Ovia North-East LG, Okpebholo polled a total of 1,824 votes, while Ighodalo had 1,745 votes.
In six wards with a total of 60 polling units in the Ikpoba/Okha LG, Ighodalo led with 3,412 votes, followed by Okpebholo, who polled 1,232 votes.
In two wards with a total of 20 polling units in Oredo LG, Ighodalo led with 879 votes, while Okpebholo secured 538 votes.
In five wards and a total of 44 polling units in the Uhunmwode LG, Okpebholo led with 2,574 votes, but Ighodalo polled 2,172 votes.
From figures calculated in 103 polling units in the Esan Central LG, the APC led with 8,132 votes, while the PDP trailed with 6,902.
Figures calculated from 24 polling units in Owan West LG showed that Ighodalo had 1,979 votes, while Okpebholo secured 2,493.
