The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the governorship election in Edo State.

Okpebholo was declared by INEC as the winner on Sunday following the collation of results from the governorship election that was held on Saturday.

Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 247,274 and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) who came a distant third in the race with 22,761 votes. Fourteen other candidates contested the seat but got less than the three frontline candidates.

“That Monday Okpebholo of the APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” INEC’s Returning Officer for the poll, Prof Faruk Kuta, said at exactly 09:27pm, to delightful cheers from APC supporters at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital on Sunday.

Kuta, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, in Niger State, declared the winner of the poll after series of recesses.

The APC candidate cleared over 10 of the 18 local government areas, leaving the PDP candidate with marginal victory in the other local councils. The APC gained control in two of the three battleground senatorial districts in the state.

He cast his vote at polling unit 1, Ward 2 in Udomi Primary School, Udomi, Irrua, Esan Central Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State.

The APC and the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had maintained an early lead in strongholds following the collation of some results by INEC.

Okpebholo, however, emerged as the winner following the final collation of results, and he is now set to succeed Godwin Obaseki as Edo State governor.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the average retail price of a litre of petrol increased from N626.70 in August 2023 to N830.46 in August 2024.

It made the declaration in its Petrol Price Watch for August 2024 released in Abuja on Sunday.

It stated that the August 2024 price of N830.46 represented a 32.51 per cent increase over the price of N626.70 recorded in August 2023.

“Comparing the average price value with the previous month of July, the average retail price increased by 7.78 per cent from N770.54.”

On state profiles analysis, the report said Benue paid the highest average retail price of N941.24 per litre, followed by Bauchi and Gombe States at N935.71 and N925.00, respectively.

“Conversely, Delta, Cross River, and Edo paid the lowest average retail price at N667.50, N672.00, and N676.25 respectively,’’ it stated.

Analysis by zones showed that the North-East Zone recorded the highest average retail price in August 2024 at N908.21 while the South-West recorded the lowest price at N677.11 per litre.

The NBS also stated in its Diesel Price Watch Report for August 2024 that the average retail price was N1,406.05 per litre.

It said that the August 2024 price of N1,406.05 per litre amounted to a 64.58 per cent increase over the N854.32 per litre paid in August 2023.

“On a month-on-month basis, the price increased by 1.93 per cent from the N1,379.48 per litre recorded in July 2024,’’ it added.

On state profile analysis, the report said the highest average price per litre of diesel in August was recorded in Kaduna state at N1,979.23, followed by Bauchi at N1,927.34 and Taraba at N1,638.14.

On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Lagos at N1,237.14 per litre, followed by Ogun at N1,255.00 and Osun at N1,268.18.

In addition, the analysis by zones showed that the North-East Zone had the highest price of N1,621.23 per litre, while the South-West recorded the lowest price at N1,283.47 per litre. 

Nigeria’s clubsides will once again be absent from the lucrative group stage of the CAF Champions League, as NPFL champions Enugu Rangers were eliminated in the playoffs by Angola’s Esperança Sagrada today.

Rangers lost the second leg of the second preliminary round 3-1, leading to their exit from the competition with a 3-2 aggregate scoreline.

Earlier, Nigeria’s other representative, Remo Stars, was knocked out in the first round.In recent years, Nigerian clubs have struggled to reach the group stages of the tournament.

Enyimba remains the only Nigerian club still competing on the continental stage.

Manchester City waited until the last minute of added time to score an equalizer, drawing 2-2 with Arsenal.

John Stones netted the late goal for Manchester City, who were under immense pressure to maintain their unbeaten run on Sunday.

Arsenal put up a strong fight against the defending champions, coming from behind to score two goals.

The action-packed match saw Manchester City take the lead in the 9th minute through Erling Haaland.

Arsenal equalized in the 22nd minute with a goal from Riccardo Calafiori and scored their second goal in added time of the first half.

The game was full of drama, with several yellow cards and one red card being issued throughout the intense contest.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says the average price of 5kg of cooking gas increased from N5,974.55 recorded in July 2024 to N6,430.02 in August 2024.

This is contained in the Bureau’s “Cooking Gas Price Watch’’ for August 2024 released on Sunday in Abuja.

The report said the August price represented a 7.62 per cent increase, compared to what was obtained in July.

The NBS said the average price of 5kg of cooking gas increased on a year-on-year basis by 56.25 per cent from N4,115.32 in August 2023 to N6,430.02 in August 2024.

On state profile analysis, the report showed that Benue recorded the highest average price at N7,000 for 5kg cooking gas, followed by Rivers at N6,954.55, and Borno at N6,914.29.

It said on the other hand, Taraba recorded the lowest price at N5,600.67, followed by Abuja and Kogi at N5,825.00 and N5,857.56, respectively.

Analysis by zone showed that the South-East recorded the highest average retail price at N6,585.18 for 5kg cooking gas, followed by the South-South at N6,451.34.

“The North-Central recorded the lowest average retail price at N6,344.29,” the NBS said.

Also, the NBS said the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas increased by 9.05 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N14,261.57 in July 2024 to N15,552.56 in August 2024.

The report said the average retail price for 12.5kg cooking gas rose by 69.15 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N9,194.41 recorded in August 2023 to N15,552.56 in August 2024.

State profile analysis showed that Rivers recorded the highest average retail price of N17,086.36 for 12.5kg cooking gas, followed by Cross River with N17,050.00 and Abia with N17,012.52.

On the other hand, the report showed that the lowest average price for 12.5kg of cooking gas was recorded in Bauchi at N13,425.00, followed by Nassarawa and Adamawa at N13,640.94 and N13,725.00 respectively.

Analysis by zone showed that the South-South recorded the highest average retail price of N16,524.00 for 12.5kg cooking gas, followed by the South-East at N16,495.78

The report said the North-Central recorded the lowest price at N14,767.41.

Similarly, the NBS said the average retail price per litre of kerosene increased to N1,847.59 in August 2024 on a month-on-month basis, showing an increase of 4.39 per cent, compared to the N1,769.86 recorded in July 2024.

According to its National Kerosene Price Watch for August 2024 on a year-on-year basis, the average retail price per litre of kerosene rose by 45.21 per cent from N1,272.40 in August 2023.

On state profile analysis, the report showed that Zamfara recorded the highest average price at N2,566.67 per litre of kerosene in August, followed by Kano with N2,444.44 and Ogun with N2,388.89.

“On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Taraba at N1,181.18, followed by Adamawa at N1,185.74 and Borno at N1,296.95.”

The NBS said the analysis further showed that the North-West recorded the highest average retail price per litre of Kerosene at N2,118.29, followed by the South-South at N2,075.45,

It said the North-East recorded the lowest average retail price per litre of kerosene at N1,454.38.

The report said the average retail price per gallon of Kerosene paid by consumers in August 2024 was N6,441.94, indicating an 11.80 per cent increase from N5,762.10 recorded in July 2024.

“On a year-on-year basis, the average price per gallon of kerosene increased by 48.04 per cent from N4,351.53 recorded in August 2023.

On state profile analysis, it showed that Katsina recorded the highest average retail price at N8,200 per gallon of kerosene, followed by Kebbi at N8,075.00 and Kaduna at N8,038.46.

The report said Nasarawa recorded the lowest price at N5,092.46, followed by Niger and Plateau at N5,104.17 and N5,445.83, respectively.

Analysis by zone showed that the North-West recorded the highest average price per gallon of Kerosene at N7,787.64, followed by the South-West at N6,593.22,

“North-Central recorded the lowest average price per gallon of Kerosene at N5,463.69,” the NBS said. 

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has won the entire Three Hundred and Thirty-two contested positions in the Saturday Local Council elections in Imo State.

Announcing the result at the headquarters of the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission, ISEC, yesterday, the Chairman, Chief Charles Ejiogu, disclosed that out of the 19 political parties that registered for the poll, 17 participated.

He said that the elections took place at the entire 4758 polling units, with APC winning the 27 Council Chairmanship seats and the 305 councillorship positions.

He described the elections as being peaceful, fair and credible and applauded the stakeholders, including the security agencies, the media and political actors in the state, for their conduct and corporation during the process.

He said that the figures of the elections and other information regarding the poll would be made available to the public in due time.

He urged all the aggrieved parties and candidates to channel their grievances through lawful means, adding that the commission avoided intervening in the internal affairs of all the participating parties prior to the elections.

“I wish to announce to the Imo people and the general public that after a peaceful, credible elections, the APC emerged winner across board.