The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially declared Godwin Obaseki, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the September 28th, 2016 governorship election in Edo state.
Mr. Obaseki was declared the winner at exactly 4: 09 pm Nigerian time on Thursday in Benin City, ending a stressful collation exercise that started around 9 am amidst heavy security and sporadic protest INEC's head office in Benin City.
SaharaReporters correspondents in monitoring the election exercise in Edo State reported that the contest was highly contested between the Governorship Candidate of the APC, Godwin Obaseki and PDP Candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, a pastor.
The announcement came amidst wild protests and calls by the PDP for the cancellation of the Edo state governorship election results altogether.
There was a massive turnout of voters on Wednesday during the governorship election.
Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, who served as the Returning Officer for the Edo State Governorship Election announced the final results on Thursday
Prof.. Soremekun declared Obaseki winner having scored 319,483 votes to defeat his closest rival Mr. Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the PDP who polled 253, 173 votes.
SaharaReporters crew in the state reported that the difference in total votes won between the two major candidates as 66,310
Wednesday governorship election held in 2627 polling units in the 18 Local Governments Areas of Edo state.
According to the final tally, the total number of registered voters in Edo State was 1,900, 233 while 622,039 voters were accredited for the governorship election.
Total valid votes cast in the contest was 613, 244.
“That God Godwin Obaseki of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” he stated before wrapping up the exercise amidst tight security.
