Residents of Edo State will vote for their next governor on Saturday, September 21(today) as Governor Obaseki completes his constitutional eight-year double term.

The state is one of many whose elections are held off-cycle due to litigations and court judgments.

The others are Anambra, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun and Ondo.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared its readiness to conduct the election and provide a level playing field for all the 17 candidates vying for the coveted office.

According to INEC, it has deployed more than 5,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems and other sensitive materials for the election.

Sensitive materials, including ballot papers and result sheets, arrived in Edo State on Wednesday via Benin Airport and were transported to secure storage facilities under tight security.

Seventeen political parties will be contesting the polls.

Here are some quick facts about the election:

1. The total number of registered voters in Edo State is 2,629,025.

2. Out of this figure, 2,249,780 (85.57%) have collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs).

3. 379,245 (14.43%) of the PVCs are uncollected.

4. There are 4,519 Polling Units in the state and voting will take place in each unit.

5. The political temperature in the state has been turbocharged in the last year with many cases of electoral violence recorded. Security agencies like the police have deployed thousands of officers to ensure a violent-free poll.

6. Though 17 candidates are jostling for the office, analysts have described the forthcoming poll as a three-horse race involving Asue Ighodalo of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).

7. Akpata is a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and he is solidly supported by 2023 LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who in about a year galvanised over six million votes in 2023 riding on the crest of the ‘Obidient’ movement.

8. Ighodalo, former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG); secured the endorsement of the incumbent governor, Obaseki, who shunned his deputy and party man, Philip Shaibu.

9. Shaibu and former governor Adams Oshiomhole have pledged their support for Okpebholo.