Obaseki knocks out Oshiomhole, Ize-Iyamu; reelected

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State had the last laugh on Saturday as he knocked out former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and the governorship candidate of the party, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, in the Edo State poll.
Results of the election were announced on Sunday.
In 2016, Obaseki was the candidate of the APC while Ize-Iyamu was the PDP candidate.
In the build up to the September 19, 2020 election, Oshiomhole, as National Chairman of APC, disqualified Obaseki, prompting him to join the PDP.
The crisis led to the sack of Oshiomhole as chairman.
With the victory, Obaseki has defeated Ize-Iyamu twice in four years.
Ize-Iyamu has also made history as the first Nigerian to lose governorship elections on the platform of APC and PDP in four years.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Sunday, declared Obaseki as winner of the election.
Prof. Akpofure Rim-Rukeh, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State, and the Returning Officer for the election, announced the result after its collation in Benin.
He said that Obaseki polled a total of 307,955 votes to defeat the closest rival and the APC candidate, Ize-Iyamu, who scored 223,619.
A total of 14 candidates participated in the contest which had the total number of accredited voters for the election at 557,443 and total valid votes votes as 537,407.
The rejected votes were 12,835 and the total number of votes cast was 550,242.
Prof. Rim-Rukeh announced that Obaseki, having scored the highest number of votes, was, therefore, declared the winner of the election.
Obaseki won in 13 of the 18 Local Governments Areas of the state, namely Orhionmwon, Igueben, Owan West , Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, Esan West, Esan Central, Esan South East, Esan North East, Uhumwode, Egor, Ovia North East and Ovia South West.
At the collation centre, the Collation Officer for Etsako Central, however, disclosed that an INEC official was shot and another INEC staff member was injured on the face.
He noted that both of them were battling with their lives in an undisclosed hospital.
There were records of invalid votes in some polling units across the  18 local government areas.
The returning officer released the scores for the candidates prior to the declaration of Obaseki as the winner.
The scores are as follows:
A A 107
ADC 1370
ADP 2374
APC 223, 619
APGA 177
APN 57
ADP 78
LP 267
NNPP 258
NRM 573
PDP 307, 955
SDP 323
YPP 132
ZLP 117
Meanwhile, Obaseki in a brief acceptance speech dedicated the victory to the collective resolve of the Edo electorate to destroy godfatherism in the state.