As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commenced the final collation of results from Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national campaign council has rejected the results from 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the chairman of the PDP national campaign council and governor of Adamawa State, voiced the party’s objections during a press conference in Benin City on Sunday. He was joined by key figures including Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, Governor Kefas Agbu of Taraba, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta, Asue Ighodalo, the PDP governorship candidate, and Mathew Iduoriyekemwen, the State Director General of the campaign council.
Fintiri listed the contentious LGAs as Esan Central, Esan North East, Esan South East, Esan West, Igueben, Etsako Central, Orhionmwon, Ovia North East, Ovia South West, Owan West, Owan East, and Uhunmwonde.
In a press briefing titled “Update on the Illegal Interruption of Collation of Edo State Governorship Election Results,” the PDP campaign council called for the immediate restoration of the collation process in line with the Electoral Act and INEC regulations. Fintiri stressed that any further disruptions would be a violation of the people’s will and an abuse of the Electoral Act 2022.
According to the PDP governors, their party secured victory in eight out of the 12 LGAs, while the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the remaining four. The PDP claimed victories in Esan Central, Esan North East, Esan South East, Igueben, Orhionmwon, Ovia North East, Ovia South West, and Uhunmwonde, while the APC won in Esan West, Etsako Central, Owan East, and Owan West.
Fintiri also alleged that the collation process was violently interrupted in several areas, particularly in Edo South. He claimed that the collation in Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, and Egor LGAs was halted and illegally moved to the State Headquarters of INEC in Benin City, under the instruction of an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), in direct violation of the statutory process.
“Party agents were then instructed to converge at the INEC State Headquarters in Aduwawa, Ikpoba-Okha LGA, to complete the collation exercise. However, PDP agents were denied entry, while APC agents were granted unfettered access, in clear violation of the Electoral Act’s neutrality requirement and INEC’s guidelines for the election,” Fintiri said.
He further alleged that at approximately 9 p.m., senior APC officials, accompanied by the police, stormed the Etsako West LGA collation center, firing shots indiscriminately. In the resulting chaos, the council’s Vice Chairman, Hon. Benji Ojetu, was critically injured. As a result, the results from Wards 7 and 11 were not delivered.
Fintiri also described the situation at the INEC state office, where a 2km-long police barricade restricted access, creating a heavily fortified zone around the premises. Governor Obaseki had to personally intervene to gain entry and express the PDP’s displeasure with the irregularities in the collation process.
He concluded by stating that collation had already been completed in the 12 disputed LGAs at the time of the interruption.
