Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki was blunt and unapologetic in his remark when he explained his dramatic late-night visit to the State Collation Centre at the INEC office in Benin City. According to him, he wasn’t there for tea, he was there because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) apparently couldn’t be bothered to answer his calls.
Obaseki had tried to reach Edo State’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Anugbum Onuoha, but no one picked up. So, what did he do? He stormed into the collation centre himself, looking to get answers, because why should the Governor be left in the dark about a process that could potentially affect the entire state’s election outcome?
In his own words, “At about 1:00 am, I got reports that the collation was supposed to be moved to the INEC head office. I also heard from our agents that agents of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) weren’t allowed into the collation process.”
Of course, when the REC went radio silent, Obaseki took matters into his own hands and showed up at the collation centre by 2:00 a.m. “When I got there, nothing was happening,” he said, adding that the REC still refused to face him or the public with any explanation.
Not one to back down easily, Obaseki met with Deputy Inspector General of Police, Frank Mba, and gave him an earful about INEC’s complete lack of communication. He demanded that if they were going to postpone or halt the collation process, they needed to follow their own rules and let the public know.
But, as expected, crickets from INEC. As of 3:00 a.m., still no updates. Obaseki noted that it took his persistence and intervention with Mba for INEC to finally cough up a statement at 5:00 a.m.—yes, a whole five hours later—saying the collation would resume at 10:00 a.m.
Obaseki’s frustration was clear: “I went there to get information because INEC refused to tell the public what was going on.” It’s almost as if transparency was an afterthought for the commission.
It’s safe to say the whole incident was a masterclass in how not to run an election collation process. While voters were left in suspense, Obaseki did what any leader should do—demand accountability. Too bad INEC didn’t seem to share that sense of urgency.
