The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, the winner of the September 19 election after concluding votes collation on Sunday, September 20, 2020.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) beat Ize-Iyamu, his closest challenger, by a total of 84,336 votes.

While speaking during an interview on Channels TV on Monday, September 21, El-Rufai said the polls were in favour of the APC candidate just three weeks to the election

He said he was surprised by the outcome of the election because he was optimistic about victory.

"I don't know what happened in the last two, three weeks of the campaign.

"As you know, a large number of voters make up their minds in the last two weeks of election," he noted.

The governor said the election was 'reasonably decent' with 'very little violence', and accepted that Obaseki won.

However, Ize-Iyamu has failed to concede the election, announcing that he was studying the result before making a decision on next moves.

The APC in Edo has also publicly rejected the result, alleging that it was marred by numerous electoral malpractices.

Governor Obaseki finished with 307,955 votes at the conclusion of the contest, while Ize-Iyamu finished with 223,619 votes.

All the 12 other candidates finished the election with a combined total of 5,833 votes.