On Thursday, September 29, Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was officially named by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as successor to Adams Oshiomhole, incumbent governor of Edo State. Until his victory, he was head of the administration’s Economic Management Team.
The pronouncement by INEC’s Returning Officer for Edo State, Professor Kayode Soremekun, was not without drama. His call for endorsement of the final result sheets was roundly rejected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent who said he did not have his party’s mandate to approve the election results in which they reportedly came second.
He found support in the Young Democratic Party(YDP) who also refused to accede to INEC’s request to endorse the result sheet. Even demonstrations by suspected sympathisers of PDP went on simultaneously as the results were being announced at INEC headquarters, Ikpoba Hill.
The drama at Ikpoba Hill was spiced with tales of the unexpected when a Returning Officer for one of the Local Government Areas narrated, before live television, how the lives of INEC officials were threatened by more than 10 gun-toting individuals allegedly led by deputy governorship candidate of the APC. His outburst was in reaction to a claim by an APC agent that he had attempted to manipulate the electoral process.
And, more drama was to follow when an agent of the KOWA Party called for total cancellation of the exercise, alleging that the leading political parties in the September 28, gubernatorial poll were massively involved in bribery for votes. And, was he right?
What will not, and cannot be disputed, is the wide circulation of stories and video footage in social media showing party agents attempting to induce voters with money. Reporters frontally confronted APC national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, in his ward with claims of such anomalies, to which he retorted sarcastically that he should be linked to the culprits for his own share.
That the results were trailed by controversy even before they were announced was completely not unexpected. Plenty intrigues had dogged preparations for the polls. For a start, many have not stopped querying the real intentions behind the sudden shift in poll date from September 10 to 28, a move which got all stakeholders totally embarrassed and INEC’s pretension to independence completely rubbished.
Read also: #EdoDecides – Drama: PDP, YDP refuse to sign result sheet, as INEC declares Obaseki winner

Accusing fingers have been pointed at the presidency for allegedly instigating the security agencies namely, Department of State Security Service (DSS) and Nigerian Police Force (NPF), to cook up insecurity tales just so the polls can be shifted for what critics call ulterior motives. Perhaps, INEC’s initial insistence to proceed with the election despite ‘insecurity’ claims and its later recant gave the presidency away.
A conspiratorial angle to the presidency link is the claim by some analysts that, having helped President Buhari with the highest votes (45%) of the South-south region during the 2015 presidential election, Mr President was duty bound to ‘reciprocate’ Oshiomhole’s kind gesture. The hypothesis is still being tested and may well become very relevant as Buhari’s body language will be subject of scrutiny anytime PDP seeks judicial intervention of what it terms travesty of justice in Edo.
But even of greater interest to political watchers is Oyegun’s battle of relevance in Edo and the struggle to retain his chairmanship of the ruling party. Having been asked by national leader, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, to vacate his seat, it is held that the alleged deployment of dirty electoral tactics in Edo was a desperate quest for survival, if only to convince his traducers that he is a political heavy weight. Though roundly trounced in his ward, it is argued that the worst electoral trespasses allegedly took place not too far from Oyegun’s sphere of influence and that the effort paid off handsomely.
The battle for Edo, far beyond the emergence of Obaseki, has also been linked by analysts to the fierce jostle for 2019. It is said that, with the presidency not too sure of bloc votes from the Southwest anymore, given Tinubu’s perceived body language and disenchantment with the party’s National Chairman, Buhari is keen on seeking new alliances to act as a bulwark against any predetermined moves by perceived enemies. And, this is where incumbent governor, Oshiomhole, is said to be Mr President’s best choice. There are speculations that a special role has been reserved for him, all in anticipation of the new alliances in the offing.
Tangential to the many intrigues that threw up Obaseki is the widely held view that APC would not let Edo go to the opposition because it’s the only surviving one in the South-south. The ruling party fears a domino-effect, worries compounded by the impending guber poll in Ondo State, and the quest for absolute control of one major oil-producing state.
All told, PDP is expected to head to the courts, in what would seem a protracted legal battle, to reclaim a lost mandate. However, the efforts may well turn out an anti-climax of sort with no major surprises as the ruling party digs in to perfect its strategies of holding on frantically to Edo for all the reasons earlier canvassed.

Source: Ripplesnigeria.com

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Both PDP and APC are alleged to have involved in rigging. The smarter party out rigged the other. PDP should go and have a chill drink. Life is turn by turn.