Ighodalo, Okpebholo in tight race as INEC uploads results

The All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are currently locked in a tight race in the ongoing governorship election in Edo State.

A check on Sunday morning revealed that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had uploaded about 97 per cent of the 4,519 polling units’ results on its Result Viewing, IReV, portal.

The results indicated that Asue Ighodalo of the PDP and his APC counterpart, Senator Monday Okpebholo, are in a tight race.

According to the results on UNEC’s IReV, portal, while the PDP candidate is leading in the Edo South Senatorial District, APC candidate leads in the Edo North Senatorial District.

Although the Labour Party, LP, was projected as a big force in the race, the party was coming a distant third, according to the results uploaded on the IReV portal so far.

While some political heavy-weights, including Governor Godwin Obaseki, Ighodalo, PDP deputy governorship candidate, Osarodion Ogie, and Senator Adams Oshiomhole won their polling units, the LP candidate, Olumide Akpata, lost his unit to PDP.

Aside from a series of arrests made by the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged vote-buying, the exercise was relatively peaceful.

However, the PDP in a statement on Saturday night alleged that the APC was plotting to use thugs to attack the collation center in a bid to manipulate results.

The state ruling party also alleged that the APC was mounting pressure on the INEC and the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to suspend the collation process to pave the way for manipulation.