Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Monday Okpebholo, has taken unassailable lead in the Edo governorship election, after the collation of results from 16 out of the 18 LGAs of the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Results from the remaining two LGAs are being expected at the INEC collation centre in Benin, the Edo capital, but it looks to be a mere formality.
So far, the APC has secured 244,549 votes, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo coming second with 195,954 votes, while the Labour Party (LP) has polled 13,348 votes.
The exercise commenced on Sunday morning after it failed to kick off after the election on Saturday.
The election featured 17 candidates, but Ighodalo of the PDP, Okpebholo of the APC and Olumide Akpata of the LP are the major contenders.
From the results announced so far, the APC has won 10 LGAs while PDP, the ruling party in the state, has been victorious in 10.
However, the PDP has strongly contested the results, arguing that they don't reflect the will of the people.
For most parts of the collation process, PDP agents contested the results from various LGAs, describing some of them as “manufactured”.
Meanwhile, INEC officials have asked to aggrieved parties to embrace the appropriate channel to challenge the outcome of the election.
The collation exercise is expected to resume by 5pm on Sunday.
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