There was a tense moment early yesterday, at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Benin, Edo State, as Police walked out the State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
The Governor had stormed the INEC office, which also doubles as the main State collation centre for the governorship election, which was conducted on Saturday.
According to reporrs, Obaseki, in the company of his security aides, arrived at the premises uninvited at around 2a.m yesterday, reportedly to protest some anomalies in the collation of results of some local government areas, including his, Oredo.
INEC officials were said to have told the Governor that he wasn’t meant to be there as only party agents and executives, journalists and observers are allowed when collation gets underway.
However, Obaseki reportedly insisted on having an audience with the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) and got his wishes. This led to a protest by supporters and officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who also stormed the INEC office in their numbers to protest the Governor’s presence.
Some reports claimed that some APC officials were also allowed to join the meeting between Obaseki and the REC; however, this could not be independently confirmed as of press time.
Meanwhile, it seemed the presence of the APC contingent spurred the Police into action to forestall a confrontation as the Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) Frank Mba, who led the Police squad for the election, arrived at the premises at about 3 am with soldiers.
By 4:45 am, Obaseki was seen being led out of the INEC premises by the security agents, who instructed him to ”leave, leave!’.
