Residents of Edo State will today go to the poll to elect the man who will govern them for the next four years.
The winner of today’s poll which by all indications will be keenly contested is expected to occupy the Government House located at the popular Osadebe Avenue come November, 12, 2024 when the tenure of office of incumbent, Governor Godwin Obaseki will expire.
According to pundits and from the build up to today’s election, the race will be a three legged race pitching three major political parties against one another.
In contention are candidates of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party.
The leading gladiators that are said to be in serious contenders are Asue Ighodalo of the PDP, Monday Okpebholo and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
To decide their fate over 2.2million electorate who will be charged with the task of picking one of them to preside over the affairs of the state as Obaseki exits the stage.
The electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has so far deployed 5,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems (BVAS) for the election, with 14 other political parties fielding candidates.
INEC’s Deployment Details
INEC has so far equipped the election with 5,000 BVAS devices to ensure a smooth voting process.
Voters cast their ballots across 4,519 polling units and 211 collation centres, which consist of 192 ward centres, 18 local government collation centres, and the main state collation centre in Benin City.
To streamline logistics, INEC has boosted its financial support to transport unions using their platforms to transport over 18,000 ad-hoc staff to different parts of the state as election managers.
Each polling unit will be manned by a team of four officers, a Presiding Officer and three Assistant Presiding Officers (APOs), ensuring that a total of 18,076 staff members would be in place to carry out the exercise across the state.
The total number of registered voters in the state stands at 2,629,025, with 2,249,780 (85.57%) having collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), this is coming just as 379,245 PVCs (14.43%) cards have remained uncollected so far.
The state has 18 local government areas with seven in the metropolitan Edo South. The zone (Southern district) has over 60 percent voting population.
The seven council areas are- Oredo, Ikpoba Okha, Egor, Uhumwode, Orhiomwon, Ovia North East and Ovia South West.
Report has it that Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area has the highest voting population with 315,410 registered voters and 214,822 PVC collected, while 100,588 PVCs are yet to be collected.
Next is Oredo, which has a total of 313,553 registered voters, while 240,197 PVCs remain collected, while 73,356 voters are yet to collect their PVCs, making Oredo the highest in the PVC collection.
INEC added that Egor Local Government has 219, 832 registered voters, 158,817 PVC collected and 61,015 uncollected PVCs.
Orhiomwon has 118,672 registered voters, 102,739 PVC collected and 15,933 uncollected PVCs. Ovia North East has 143,009 registered voters, 113,167 PVC collected and 29,842 uncollected PVCs.
Ovia South West has 96,409 registered voters, 77,468 PVCs collected and 18,941 uncollected PVCs. Uhumwode LGA has 74,529 registered voters and 57,290 PVC collections, while there are 17,239 uncollected PVCs.
On the other hand, Edo North has the second largest voting population with Etsako West having 128,188 voters, Akoko-Edo with 115,343 voters, Owan East with 77,841 voters.
Others are Etsako East with 77,841 voters,Owan West 46,245 and Etsako Central 42,028 voters.
Edo Central Senatorial District where the APC and PDP candidates hail from has the least voting population with Esan West having the highest voting population of 83,467 voters.
Esan North East with a voting population of about 66,790 voters and Esan South East with 58,802 voters.
Others are Esan Central with the 40,831 voting population and finally Igueben with the least voting population of about 34,988 voters.
From the foregone analysis, it is obvious that the battle ground for Edo election is going to be in Edo South with the highest voting population and that is where the candidate of the Labour Party, Olumide Akpata hails from.
Akpata will have the PDP deputy governorship candidate, Barrister Osarodion Ogie and Hon Denis Idahosa, who is the deputy governorship candidate of the APC, among others to contend with in the seven metropolitan local government areas making up the zone.
Penetrating the Edo North, where Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is in charge may be a herculean task for the candidates of the Labour Party and the PDP.
In 2023, while other leaders were losing their base in a political tsunami that swept across Nigeria, Oshiomhole maintained his lEdo North base, winning the six local government areas for the APC.
In Edo Central, the battle will be between Ighodalo and Okpehbolo, leaving Akpata with little fighting chance.
Security Measures
To ensure a peaceful election, the management of the Nigeria Police Force has mobilised 35,000 personnel, with an additional 8,000 others expected from other security agencies
The deployment of the police towards peaceful poll also includes use of drones, helicopters, and other equipment to prevent any disruptions.
Spokesman for the force, Muyiwa Adejobi, stated that Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) Frank Mba will lead the security team, supported by DIG Daniel Pedro and other top-ranking officers.
Adejobi reassured the public that the police are fully prepared, with extensive deployments and aerial surveillance assets in place to guarantee a free, fair, and credible election.
He emphasised, “We have enough officers to monitor deployment and supervise the conduct of our men and other security agents. Our chopper, drones, and other critical assets have been moved to Edo to ensure a successful electoral process.” (NewTelegraph)