Oshiomhole in early lead …wins Airhiavbere, Anenih’s wards

Some results from Saturday’s governorship elections in Edo State have indicated that the candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria and incumbent governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is in an early lead.

These results were declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission at each polling units.

Oshiomhole beat his main rival, Gen. Charles Airhiavevbere (retd) of the Peoples Democratic Party in his Oredo Ward 1, Unit 20, polling 360 votes as against 38 votes for the PDP.

The All Nigeria Peoples Party candidate won two votes.

As soon as the results were announced at 7:15 pm, voters went in wild jubilation at the centre.

The ACN candidate also defeated the strongman of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, in his polling centre.

Results from other centres showed that Oshiomhole was leading at the time of going to press in the wee hours of Sunday.

At the same centre in unit 18, the ACN scored 351, PDP scored 65, the All Nigeria Peoples Party 1, and Labour Party 1.

Other results include  those of unit 19: ACN  254, PDP’s 32, while the ANPP had two votes.

In unit 21, the PDP garnered 33 votes, Congress for Progressive Change 1, ACN 70.

Earlier, the Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, had described the exercise as satisfactory when he came to cast his vote.

“If all elections would be this peaceful, then we would have no problems. You can see it is generally peaceful and quiet here,” he said.

At Unit 10, Ward 10, Eyeye Primary School, Ugbowo, ACN scored 290 to PDP’s 15.

At Eweka Primary School, Useh, ACN had a cumulative score of 2,298, PDP 89, while at Ward 9, Asora Grammar school, ACN had 966 to PDP’s 44.

Also, ACN swept the poll in Ovia North-East, Adolor Ward 3, where ACN had  polled 208  and PDP scored 17.

In all the units in Idia College, the ACN had 7,923 to PDP’s 262. At Ikpoba Okha LGA where voters trooped out in large numbers,  ACN scored 9,022, ANPP, 65, CPC 71, while the PDP had 750.

ACN also won at unit 4, Ward 2 in Oredo LGA in Edo-South. It scored 388  as against PDP’s 54 votes.

However, about 417 names without pictures appeared in place of only 17 names with pictures in the electronic register.

The voters had stopped accreditation exercise to force INEC officials to use the list with pictures.

Shouts of “no picture, no vote” rent the air at the centre as the youths insisted that the INEC was presenting a fake list of voters.

But INEC officials noted that the list containing the 417 was manually generated and could be used.

Voters who could neither find their names nor pictures on the voter register earlier, refused to leave Garrick Memorial, venue where Airhiavbere, voted.

Reacting Airhiavbere said, “In every situation like this, things like these happen; considering that we did not have the time to conduct a verification exercise.”

However, before the results started trickling in, the poll had ended amid protests and acrimony from missing names from voter register, lack of materials and delayed accreditation.  

Oshiomhole excoriated INEC for what he regarded as the shoddy handling of the exercise in Edo-South.

His complaint was based on alleged plot to undermine him in the zone with the  largest voters concentration.

Reports from our team of correspondents in the state showed that the exercise was marred by late arrival of voting materials or absence of electoral officials at polling centres.

It was gathered that late accreditation of voters and non-release of materials were most pronounced in Edo-South.

In Oredo Local Government Area, voters had besieged voting centres for accreditation as early as 8:00 pm, the official time for the commencement of the exercise, but found no INEC officials.

However, accreditation started around 10:00 am.

Oshiomhole chided the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and his commission, for their alleged role in the saga.

He said, “Jega has been an embarrassment to the nation; INEC has been an embarrassment to the democratic process in Nigeria.”

Consequently, he vowed to expose INEC officials, stressing in pidgin English, “yawa go burst.”

He said, “Edo South has 55 per cent of vote, with up to 40 per cent in Benin alone.”

The governor, who arrived at Ward 10, unit I, Iyhamo Primary School, in Etsako LGA, about 10:30 am for accreditation, could not do so for over an hour later, due to disturbing news reaching him from Benin and other areas in Edo South.

By 12:40 pm, when accreditation ended at the polling centre, 575 persons were accredited, out of 1, 043 that registered.

This untidy arrangement tasked the patience of voters at Garrick Memorial Secondary School, Ekenwa, as voting had not started 30 minutes to the end of the exercise.

A voter, Sunday Akhimien, about 2:30 pm told Sunday Punch, “Accreditation did not begin until 11 am because that was when the electoral materials arrived. We just concluded accreditation about 45 minutes ago.

One of the voters who waited for many hours for accreditation was a 74-year old woman, Mr. Stella Ogbeide, at Unit 4, GRA Staff Training Centre, said, “I have come out to vote despite my condition. I am 1,095 on the list.”

Oshiomhole, who cast his vote at 12.55pm, said reports he got from Edo South, were confirmations of what he had been saying of INEC’s complicity in plans by the Peoples Democratic Party to rig the poll. 

Further, he said Jega behaved “like a naïve professor” when he had complained to him of plans to rig the election.

He said, “I wrote a petition to him. All these I have raised in the various petitions of their scheme to rig the election, he (Jega) said all is well.

 “The plan they had was to delay the process. As we speak now, materials have not arrived many areas in Edo South. INEC is an embarrassment to the people of Edo State, and if justice does not prevail, ‘yawa go burst.’ I want to win election, not to capture election.

At the Garrick Memorial Secondary School, on Ekenwan Road, Benin, frustrated voters expressed disappointment over the development.

The scenario was the same at Niger College, Benin, where registered voters waited in vain to be accredited.

It was further learnt that hundreds of voters’ names were missing from the INEC register, even though they were registered to vote.

However, Airhiavbere, unlike Oshiomhole, sang a different song.

He told Sunday Punch in Benin shortly after he cast his vote that he was satisfied with the process.

“Though the process started 10:00 am, the arrangement is tight and my expectation is that I am in this race to win.”

Reacting to Oshiomhole’s condemnation of the election, the Director of Publicity of PDP in the state, Mr. Okharedia Ihemekpem, described his action as hasty. He also said his allegation that INEC planned to rigged the election in Edo South was ridiculous and petently deceptive.