&w=64&q=75)
There was a tense moment at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benin on the morning of Sunday, September 22, 20224, as police walked out Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
The Governor had stormed the INEC office which also doubles as the main state collation centre for the governorship election conducted on Saturday.
Obaseki, in the company of his security aides, reportedly arrived at the premises uninvited at around 2 am on Sunday to protest some anomalies in the collation of results of some local government areas, including his Oredo.
INEC officials were said to have told the Governor that he wasn't meant to be there as only party agents and executives, journalists, and observers are allowed when collation gets underway.
However, Obaseki reportedly insisted on having an audience with the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) and got his wishes.
This led to a protest by supporters and officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who also stormed the INEC office in their numbers to protest the Governor's presence.
Some reports claimed that some APC officials were also allowed to join the meeting between Obaseki and the REC but Pulse can't independently confirm this.
Meanwhile, it seemed the presence of the APC contingent spurred the police into action to forestall a confrontation as the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Frank Mba, who led the Police squad for the election, arrived at the premises at about 3 am with soldiers.
By 4:45 am, Obaseki was seen being led out of the INEC premises by the security agents who instructed him to ''leave, leave.''
Although the electoral umpire is yet to commence the announcement of results at the collation centres, it has made significant progress in uploading results from polling units on its IReV portal.
As of the time of filing this report, INEC has already uploaded result sheets of 4,259 out of 4,519 polling units expected to be uploaded.