Edo 2016: Obaseki wins APC governorship primary election

Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, proved he is in charge of the politics in the state’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as his candidate, Godwin Obaseki, early Sunday morning, won the governorship primary election of the party.

Obaseki, who is the head of the Edo State Economic Team, polled a total of 1,608 votes to defeat his closest challenger and the state deputy governor, Pius Odubu, who polled 471votes in the primary election held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City.

A breakdown of the result showed that Kenneth Imansuangbon scored 247 votes, while Chris Ogiemwonyi was credited with 137 votes.

A further breakdown of the result as announced revealed that Blessing Agbonmere scored five votes, Charles Airhiavbere 11 votes, Prof. Ebegue Amadasun eight votes and Arigbe Osula polled 10 votes.

Other aspirants, who participated in the primary election were Austin Emuan, seven votes, Mrs Tina Agbarha, three votes and Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, who had nine votes.

31 invalid votes were recorded in the exercise.

2,771 delegates were registered for the exercise out of which 2,582 were accredited to vote.

Voting started at about 5:40p.m. due to late completion of accreditation of delegates and ended at about 10:25 p.m.
Sorting of votes started at 10:40 p.m. and ended at about 2:15 a.m.
It was immediately followed by counting of the votes scored by the aspirants in alphabetical order.

The primarily election was not without some drama as two of the  aspirants, Kenneth Imansuangbon and Chris Ogiemwonyi, stormed out of the venue, while sorting of votes was ongoing.

It was also observed that the deputy governor, Pius Odubu, who left the stadium shortly before the end of voting, never returned to the venue of the exercise.