Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has clarified his visit to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre in Benin City early Sunday morning.
He arrived around 2 a.m. and remained on-site until police, led by Deputy Inspector General Frank Mba, escorted him out.
The visit came amid protests from members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including Dennis Idahosa, the running mate of Monday Okpebholo, who demanded Obaseki’s departure from the INEC premises at approximately 3:30 a.m.
In a press briefing at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Situation Room, Obaseki explained that he sought clarification from the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) after receiving reports that the collation process had stalled and that PDP agents were being denied entry.
He said, “At about 1 am, I got a report that collation was supposed to have been moved to the INEC head office. I also got reports from our agents that PDP agents were not allowed into the collation centre. At that point in time, I called the REC to find an explanation of what was going on. There was no response.
“Then I went to the INEC office to meet with the REC and to understand what steps INEC was taking to continue the process of collation. When I got in there at about 2:00 am, I did not see any coalition taking place and the REC refused to come out to explain what the situation was.
“Subsequently, the DIG Police Frank Mba came in and had a meeting with me where I explained that if INEC was postponing or stopping the collation process, then as part of their rules, they should inform the public as to what next.
“As of 3:00 a.m., there was no information from INEC as to what was going to what was going on or what was going to happen next. It was subsequently after my insistence and meeting with Mr Frank Mba that INEC now released a statement at about 5:00a.m this morning informing the public that the collation process would start at 10 a.m. this morning.
“So, my go in there was essentially to obtain information from INEC because they had refused to put any information in the public domain as to what was going to happen with the collation process.”
