Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has explained that he visited the Independent National Electoral Commission collation centre at 2.00am to gather information on developments amid tension trailing conduct of the election.
Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives congress, Dr Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Barrister Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party are leading contestants in the election that held on Saturday, 21st September, 2024.
According to him, he had faced challenges in reaching the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Anugbum Onuoha, and wanted to understand why reports suggested that the collation had been moved and that PDP agents were being denied access.
Upon arrival, he found no ongoing collation and no response from the REC.
Recall that, in the early hours of Sunday, Obaseki had arrived at the INEC premises but was eventually escorted out by Deputy Inspector General of Police, Frank Mba.
Obaseki clarified his actions during a Sunday press briefing by the PDP campaign organization for the Edo governorship election.
At the press briefing later that day, he explained that around 1:00 am, he received reports that the collation process was being relocated to the INEC head office, with concerns raised about PDP agents being denied access to the process.
Obaseki’s attempt to clarify the situation led him to the INEC centre at 2:00 am, where he found no collation activities and was unable to get a response from the REC.
He said, “At about 1:00 am, I got the report that the collation was supposed to have been moved to the INEC head office. I also got reports from our agents that PDP agents were not allowed into the collation process. At that point in time, I called the REC to find an explanation as to what was going on. There was no response”.
“I then went to INEC to seek to meet with the REC to try and understand what steps the INEC was taking to continue the process of collation. “When I got in there at about 2:00 am, I did not see any collation taking place and the REC refused to come out to explain what the situation was,” the governor said.
Meanwhile there is a heavy presence of security operatives on Sunday at the Edo office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the collation of results for the Saturday governorship election commenced.
INEC announced on Saturday that collation of results from the 18 local governments of the state would begin by 10am on Sunday.
