By AFP – Agence France Presse
September 23, 2024
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Nigeria’s ruling party has won an election for governor in southern Edo state, the electoral commission said, in what President Bola Tinubu’s office said showed support for his economic reforms.
The state has traditionally swung between the ruling party and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but the wider region is a PDP stronghold.
The electoral body announced on Sunday that senator Monday Okpebholo of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had won 291,667 votes to defeat the PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, who scored 247,274 in Saturday’s ballot.
“Okpebholo Monday of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” returning officer Faruk Adamu Kuta, of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said in the city of Benin, the state capital.
Former leader of Nigeria’s main lawyers’ union Olumide Akpata, who was the candidate of the rising opposition Labour Party, garnered 22,763 ballots.
The announcement was greeted by a mixed response on the streets of the state capital.
The opposition party published short videos on X showing several of its members sitting on the ground on a public road in protest against the election results.
Another video showed party supporters protesting around a makeshift firewood stove on the road.
“The outcome of the… governorship election appears to have daunted the spirit of many Edo people, who feel powerless in the face of the brutal force of the institutions that are supposed to protect them,” PDP governor Godwin Obaseki said on X.
But Tinubu’s office said the election — the first since he was sworn in as president in May 2023 — was an endorsement of his economic reforms.
The “victory testified to the people’s support for the ruling party, its progressive ideals, its economic reengineering programme and its commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians”, Tinubu’s media adviser Bayo Onanuga said in a statement late on Sunday.
Tinubu removed government backing for Nigeria’s naira currency and ended long-standing fuel subsidies immediately after coming to power.
The reforms have hit Nigerians hard as they already faced a spike in the cost of living.
Inflation soared to almost a three-decade high of 34.2 percent in June. After slowing for a second consecutive month, it still stood at 32.2 percent last month.
Tinubu, however, argues that despite the short-term pain, his reforms will benefit Nigeria and bring in foreign investment.
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