Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, along with Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri and PDP governorship candidate Asue Ighodalo, have denied reports that they announced results from the collation center. This comes as Obaseki defended his visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office earlier.
According to Obaseki, he visited the INEC office in the early hours of Sunday to inquire about the delay in the collation of results for the governorship election.
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Speaking at a press conference alongside Fintiri and Ighodalo, Obaseki explained that his visit prompted INEC to reschedule the collation process to 10 a.m.
Governor Fintiri clarified that he did not announce official results but merely shared figures from polling units and local governments, provided by party agents.
“I didn’t announce any results. I only shared figures from our agents before INEC halted the process. The real violation of the Electoral Act is on INEC’s part, not mine,” Fintiri stated.
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Obaseki was reportedly at the INEC office around 2 a.m., where he stayed for nearly three hours.
His presence sparked protests from members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), leading Deputy Inspector General of Police Frank Mba to intervene and ask Obaseki to leave the premises.
In the press briefing, Obaseki argued that his visit helped push INEC to release information about the status of the results, which party agents had said was being withheld.
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“At around 1 a.m., I received reports that the collation was meant to be moved to the INEC head office, but our party agents were being denied access. I reached out to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for an explanation but received no response. I then went to the INEC office myself to understand what steps were being taken to continue the collation process,” Obaseki explained.
“When I arrived at 2 a.m., no collation was happening, and the REC refused to come out and provide any information. It wasn’t until after my meeting with DIG Frank Mba that INEC announced around 5 a.m. that collation would resume at 10 a.m.”
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Obaseki emphasized that his visit was solely to obtain information from INEC, as the commission had failed to inform the public about what was happening with the collation process.
