Obaseki loses ward to Labour Party as thugs disrupt counting

What was supposed to be a smooth election turned violent in Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki’s home of Ward 4 in Oredo Local Government Area when some hoodlums violently attacked officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when it appeared that the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr Peter Gregory Obi was coasting home to victory.

Irked that Governor Obaseki’ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was losing to LP during vote counting, the hoodlums appeared with guns blazing and fired sporadically.

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The gunmen made away with some of the ballot papers when the voters and officials of the electoral commission ran away.

Upturned ballot boxes and scattered ballot papers littered the polling centre at Idia College, Benin, and also at Mission Road, where the thugs also visited

Going by the outcome of the result which was announced before the mayhem, the LP maintained a comfortable lead with 136 votes in the governor’s polling unit, 24 in ward four while PDP came a distant second with 56 votes while the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) scored a paltry 27 to take the third position.

It would be recalled that Governor Obaseki had during the presidential rally in Asaba, Delta State, promised to deliver two million votes to the main opposition party presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.