The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Monday Okpebholo, has been declared the winner of Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
INEC returning officer for the election, Faruk Kuta, made the declaration at exactly 9:27 p.m. at the State Collation Centre in Benin City on Sunday evening.
The returning officer said Mr Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo, who scored 247,274 votes.
The candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Olumude Akpata, came a distant third with 22,763 votes.
“That Monday Okpebholo of the APC, having satisfied all the requirements of law and scored majority of the lawful votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Mr Kuta declared.
The final results showed that Mr Okpebholo won in 11 local government areas in the state while Mr Ighodalo won in seven.
The candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Akpata, did not win in any local government area.