Created on August 27 ,1991 by the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida(rtd) out of the defunct Bendel State.The state has boundaries with Delta in the East ,Kogi in the North,Ondo in the West and Bayalsa in South.
Edo is the home of the African culture and civilization that predated the Western civilization. The State has three major ethnic blocks with the Benins occupying the South,the Esans occupy the center and the Afemi occupy the North with other sub ethnic nationalities.
The State began it’s journey on democratic governance with the aborted Third Republic when Chief John Odigie. Oyegun became the governor in 1992. Oyegun administration was shortlived as late Head of State,General Sani Abacha terminated the Third Republic in 1994
The Fourth Republic began with Chief Lucky Igbinedion as the governor in May 29,1999,he spent eight years and handed over to Prof Osariemhen Osunbor ,a professor of Law in 2007, but that administration was as well shortlived as he was removed by the Court of Appeal paving way for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in 2008. Adams Oshiomhole spent eight years and handed over to the present governor ,Mr Godwin Obasek in 2016.
Today, September 21,2024 Edo people are going to the poll to elect the man who will occupy the Osadebe Avenue Edo State Government House come November,12 2024,as Obaseki is about completing his second term in office.
The race for the Edo State Government House is a three legged race between the
three major political parties ( PDP,APC and LP ) who are struggling for the votes of the over 2.2million Edo electorate.
The state has 18 local government areas with seven in the metropolitan Edo South. The zone has over 60 percent voting population.
The seven LGAs are- Oredo, Ikpoba Okha, Egor, Uhumwode,Orhiomwon,Ovia North East and Ovia South West.
According report by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
A total of 2,240,534 million people collected voters card for the Edo Governorship election of Saturday, September 21, INEC said that out of the number 483,796 PVCs remain uncollected.
The report has it that
IkpobaOkha LGA has the highest voting population with 315,410 registered voters and 214,822 PVC collected, while 100,588 PVCs are yet to be collected.
Oredo LGA,has a total of 313,553 registered voters , while 240,197 PVCs were collected,
73,356 voters are yet to collect their PVCs , making Oredo the highest in the PVC collection.
Egor LGA 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 .Uhuwonde LGA has 74,529 registered voters and 57,290 PVC collection, while there are 17,239 uncollected PVCs.
On the other hand,Edo North has the second largest voting population with the Estsko West 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 .
While in Edo Central Senatorial District,where the APC and PDP candidates hail from
The zone has the least voting population with Esan West having the highest voting population of 83,467 voters , Esan North East with the 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 with the Igueben LGA 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 where the candidate of the Labour party,Olumide Akpata hails from. Akpata will have the PDP deputy governorship candidate ,Bar Osarodion Ogie and Hon Denis Idahosa,who is also the deputy governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress among others to contend with in the seven metropolitan local government areas,
Penetrating the Edo North,where Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is in charge may be a hurricane task. In 2023 while other leaders were loosing their base in a Political Tsunami that swept across Nigeria, Oshiomhole maintained his Edo North base, wining the six local government areas for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In Edo Central, the battle will be between PDP candidate,Bar Asue Ighodalo and his All Progressive Congress APC counterpart ,Senator Monday Okpehbolo , leaving Labour Party candidate Olumide Akpata with little chance.
