Governor Godwin Obaseki has received a certificate of return following his reelection in the Edo governorship race.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the 63-year-old winner of the September 19 election after concluding votes collation on Sunday, September 20, 2020.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) beat Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and 12 other candidates.
Obaseki received his certificate of return during a ceremony that took place at INEC’s Collation Centre, in Benin, Edo State capital, on Tuesday, September 22.
The INEC National Commissioner in charge of Edo, Bayelsa and Rivers, May Agbamuche-Mbu, presented the certificates of return to both Obaseki and the state’s deputy governor-elect, Philip Shaibu. She said:
“INEC, I believe, has played its humble part but we have always maintained that a successfully conducted election is a collective effort, and so it has proven to be,”
Obaseki praised INEC’s conduct of the election, and extended a hand of friendship to his opponents.
He said, “I am using this opportunity to extend a hand of fellowship to my brother, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, and other colleagues in the APC to work with us to move Edo forward.
“On a specific note, I want to use this occasion to call on former national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, that the fight is over, to come and join in building the house where he was part of laying the foundation.
“We have no malice; the only thing we disagreed on is on the approach in moving Edo forward.”
After the declaration of Obaseki’s victory on Sunday, Ize-Iyamu rejected the outcome announcing that he was studying the result before making a decision on next moves. The APC in Edo also publicly rejected the result, alleging that it was manipulated and rigged.
However, the chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the APC, Governor Mai Mala Buni, on Monday, September 21 hailed Obaseki’s re-election as a victory for democracy.