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Edo Elections: Obaseki, Ize-Iyamu win respective polling units
By Emmanuel Awosika
Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party and Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress have both won their respective polling units in the Edo State Gubernatorial Election.
The incumbent, Obaseki, had voted in his polling unit in Oredo Ward 4, Unit 19, where he garnered 184 of the final votes cost. In comparison, his challenger, Ize-Iyamu got only 62 votes in Obaseki’s unit.
Obaseki won of the units in the where he voted, polling a higher number of votes in Units 21 through 26 than his APC counterpart.
However, the APC candidate won his own polling unit in Ward 5 in Iguododo community, Orhionwon Local Government Area. He had received a total of three 292 votes while his PDP opponent got only 21 votes.
Ize-Iyamu indicated he was pleased with the voting process, praising INEC for doing its job well.
He said, “The accreditation is very easy, I have done that and they gave me the ballot paper. Where the ballot box is placed is covered and that means you can vote with some level of privacy.
“I cannot say that what is happening here is happening all over the state because the communication is not very good.
“I am happy I have been able to vote. I am very confident of winning and I just hope what is happening here is replicated all over the state.”
However, Governor Obaseki was less positive about the electioneering process, saying the Independent National Electoral Commission could have better prepared for the election.
His words:“I expected better preparation on the part of those saddled with the responsibility to conduct this election. To wait for one and a half hours on the queue before exercising my franchise is a bit disappointing.
“Given that this is a sole day’s election, I expected better planning and preparation and resources should have been put into this election.
“At the last presidential election, in my polling unit, there were two polling points which eased the burden on voters. You all are witnesses to how long it has taken.
The card reader here is working slowly, and this is the situation in all the major voting centres in Oredo Local Government Area of the state as I speak.
“At Garrick Memorial School, I understand that over 500 voters are already stranded because they can’t vote due to the slow processing of the card reader.
“One would have expected that INEC will have deployed more card readers and more voting points in high-density polling centres.”
