Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the former President, Mohammed Buhari have expressed their satisfaction to Monday Okpebholo of All Progressive Congress who was declared the winner of the just concluded Edo Guber election.
Okpebholo was declared winner of the Edo state governorship election by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday after scoring a total of 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 247,274 votes.
The INEC returning officer, Professor Farouk Adamu after the final collation in Benin, Edo made the announcement that Okpebholo has met the requirements of the law and is returned as the duly elected.
He said the victory testified to the people’s support for the ruling party, its progressive ideals, its economic reengineering programme and its commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians.
Tinubu urged Okpebholo not to gloat over his victory but to see it as a challenging call to service, encouraged him to demonstrate magnanimity by reaching out to his political rivals and uniting the people of Edo State to ensure its development.
He also urged all those aggrieved by the election outcome to seek redress through the legal channels, in addition, commended the people of Edo State for their orderly and peaceful conduct during the election, while underscoring the maturing of Nigeria’s democracy after 25 years.
Tinubu said, “I commend the INEC and our security agencies for working round the clock to conduct a successful, peaceful and largely hitch-free exercise. INEC has once again demonstrated that it is committed to organising a free and fair election in our country”.
In a separate statement the former President, Buhari who also congratulated Okpebholo as the party’s Governor-elect in Edo State, said “this is prized, historic electoral victory.”
According to him, “Congratulations to the party APC and the election winner, Senator Monday Okpebholo on the historic electoral victory, and my warmest wishes for a new lease of life for Edo State and its people.
“I very much hope the winners and the losers will work together to strengthen democracy and maintain the trajectory of development in the state.
“I commend the law enforcement agencies for the efforts that they put into ensuring a peaceful election, and the multitude of election officials who strive to improve with each election.
“I pray that the Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, will continue to achieve remarkable progress under democracy”, Buhari concluded.
Meanwhile, the Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri who is an opposition expressed disappointment over the just concluded Edo Guber election.
Fintiri on X said, “I weep for Nigeria’s democracy after witnessing the shameful Edo Gubernatorial poll. The APC desperate attempts to discredit me by falsely claiming I announced results won’t distract from the real issue.
The Governor claimed that he merely shared results from INEC’s Irev portal, as collated by INEC from the various Local Government Areas.
He said, “What’s truly shameful is APC’s national chairman flying into Edo with a private jet on election day, defying movement restrictions, while their Governors used armoured escorts to intimidate voters.
Adding “This blatant disregard for democratic norms is the real brigandage. Nigerians are outraged, slamming @inecnigeria for compromising and favouring APC.
“The reported vote-buying, disruption of collation processes, and suspicious results with more votes than accredited voters undermine trust in our democracy”.