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THE collation of ballot in Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State is in progress in Edo State, following an expectedly large turnout of voters for the election that pits incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria party, who is gunning for a second term in office against retired Major-General Charles Airhiavbere, the closest front-runner of the Peoples Democratic Party, along with 5 other contestants.
The election had commenced at the appointed time of 8am on Saturday, and the initial trickle of voters quickly snowballed into a massive turnout, especially in the capital city of Benin where the PDP aspirant Charles Airhiavbere cast his vote at the Garrick memorial School, Oredo Ward which he reportedly lost to Oshiomhole.
Security was tight in Edo as thousands of military and police personnel were moved into the state to maintain law and order. The drafting of soldiers to the streets of the state had previously faced loud criticisms from across the country, including the federal House of Representatives in Abuja where strong reactions and counter-reactions were unsuccessfully made to have the soldiers withdrawn from Edo State.
Unofficial figures from the state capital, Benin City, showed that Governor Oshiomhole was in the lead earlier in the local evening time on Saturday.
Partial results reveal that in Oredo Ward 12, the ACN polled 1,434 votes in 10 units, while the PDP secured 217 votes.
Details of the votes cast are as follows: Unit 1: ACN 121 votes, PDP 27 votes; Unit 2: ACN 137, PDP 17; Unit 3: ACN 168, PDP 25; Unit 4: ACN 124, PDP 12; Unit 5: ACN 138, PDP 13; Unit 6: ACN 144, PDP 18; Unit 7: ACN 151, PDP 27; Unit 8: ACN 142, PDP 28; Unit 9: ACN 156, PDP 35; and Unit 10: ACN 153, PDP 15 votes.
In Oredo Ward 2 (PDP’s candidate, Charles Airhiavbere’s ward), the ACN has 1,088 votes in six unites while the PDP has 163 votes, with the following unit scores:
Unit 28: ACN 220, PDP 43; Unit 4: ACN 107, PDP 19; Unit 23: ACN 96, PDP 17; Unit 19: ACN 189, PDP 23; Unit 15, ACN 136, PDP 23; Unit 20: ACN 360, PDP 38, ANPP 2 votes.
The ACN leads in 12 units of Ward 10 of Oredo with 1,804 votes to PDP’s 344 votes.
The total results of Ward 9 of the same locality put the ACN at 2,800 votes and the PDP at 626 votes.
The performance of the PDP in the bastion of the influential power broker in Edo politics, Chief Tony Anenih, was poor. According to reports from his town of Uromi, the ACN recorded successes in Uselu Ward 1, Unit 10, in Egor Local Government Area (LGA), polling 65 votes as against PDP’s 6. Reported attempt by a local PDP official to smuggle stamped ballot into a polling met a crowd of angry people who were ready lynch him.
EtsakoEast LGA, ACN polled 400 votes in Unit 01, Ward 10, while PDP got 29. In Unit 02, ACN polled 358 votes as against PDP’s 45. In Unit 03, ACN got 381, trailed by PDP, which 14.
At Unit04, ACN polled 98 votes as against PDP’s 12. In Unit 05, ACN won with 394 votes as against PDP’s 24.
Also, ACN scored 197 at Unit 06; PDP got 11 votes. In Unit 07, ACN scored 157 while PDP got20. In Unit 08, ACN scored 392 votes while PDP got 24.
The ACN is also reported to be leading handily in Edo Central senatorial zone of the state, both in the big and small towns, recording successes in both Esan South and Esan West local government areas respectively.
Although Saturday’s election exercise in Edo was mostly peaceful, leaders complained about delays with regards the supply of voting materials in many places. Also at issue was the case with the missing names of thousands of voters who could not be accredited for the voting process.
Two inspectors, a constable and an Independent National Electoral Commission ad hoc official lost their lives in a boat mishap as they transported election materials to Ologbo community in the state.
The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olufemi Adenaike, confirmed the development in an SMS to our correspondent, Comfort Oseghale.
“Two inspectors and one constable died; two policemen and one prison official survived. One INEC official also died. Only the body of an inspector has been recovered.”