The 2016 Edo State gubernatorial election was held on 28 September, 2016 to determine the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Edo State Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...

. The election was originally scheduled for 10 September, however two days before, on 8 September it was postponed due to security concerns. The incumbent governor,

Adams Oshiomhole Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole (born 4 April 1952) is a Nigerian politician who has served as the senator representing the Edo North senatorial district since 2023. He is a former national chairman of the All Progressive Congress. He previously served ...

, was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term due to

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

s established in the Fifth Amendment to the Nigeria Constitution. He was succeeded by

Godwin Obaseki Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki (born 1 July 1957) is a Nigerian politician and businessman who served as the governor of Edo State from 2016 to 2024. Obaseki was elected governor under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2016 wh ...

, who defeated

PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...

candidate Osagie Ize-Iyamu in the election.

Electoral system

The Governor of Edo State is elected using the

plurality voting system Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...

PDP primary

In the PDP

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

held on 20 June 2016, Osagie Ize-Iyamu polled a total of 584 votes to defeat Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, his closest rival, who had 91 votes while Solomon Edebiri scored 38 votes.

Candidates

*Party nominee: Osagie Ize-Iyamu: former Chief of Staff to the Edo State governor and Secretary to the State Government *Running mate:

John Yakubu John Yakubu is a former chairman of Esan North-East local government area. He was the running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference t ...

*Solomon Edebiri: Businessman, philanthropist. Lost in the primary election. *Matthew Iduoriyekemwen. Lost in the primary election.

Results

APC primary

Godwin Obaseki, chairman of the Edo State Economy and Strategy Team, emerged victorious in the APC primary, winning 1,618 votes against 11 other candidates. His closest rival was Pius Odubu, the state deputy governor, who came a distant second with 471 votes. The total number of invalid votes was 41. The only female candidate in the primary, Tina Agbarha, came last with just three votes.

Candidates

*Party nominee: Godwin Obaseki: Chairman of the Edo State Economy and Strategy Team :*Running mate: Philip Shuaibu *Pius Odubu: Edo State Deputy Governor. Lost in the primary election. * Oserheimen Osunbor: former Governor. Lost in the primary election. *

Chris Ogiemwonyi Engr Christopher Aigbovbiosa Ogiemwonyi (born 21 March 1951) is a Nigerian politician and businessman. He was a former Minister for Works at thNigeria Federal Ministry of Works He was the retired group executive director of the Nigerian National P ...

: former Minister of State for Works. Lost in the primary election.

Results

General Election

A total of 19 candidates registered with the

Independent National Electoral Commission Independent National Electoral Commission may refer to: *Independent National Electoral Commission (Burundi) *Independent National Electoral Commission (Democratic Republic of the Congo) *Independent National Electoral Commission (Guinea) The Inde ...

. APC candidate Obaseki won the election with 52% of the vote to PDP candidate Ize-Iyamu's 41%. The total number of registered voters in the state was 1,900,233 while 622,039 voters were accredited. Voter turnout was 613,244 and the difference in total votes won between the two major candidates was 66,310.

Results

References

{{reflist Edo State gubernatorial elections Edo State gubernatorial election Edo State gubernatorial election