A combined photo of Agba, Asue and Akpata
By Our Reporter
A 2024 Edo State governorship pre-election opinion poll commissioned by Caesar and Lawrence Resources (C&LR)- Researchers, Pollsters, and Examiners, has placed Prince Clem Agba of the All Progressives Congress [APC] as the most preferred aspirant to vote for in the state’s governorship election.
The non-profit organisation, in the report of its research and survey, signed by Dr Modupe Smart, Lead Consultant, and released on Thursday, 15th February 2024, said that Agba was ahead among six leading candidates across party lines.
The poll also accommodated questions via telephone for those rooting for Esan agenda in the sceduled September 21, 2024 election.
The three leading candidates who featured prominiently at the top of the chart after collating responses through phone, according to the pollster, are Prince Clem Agba of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).
The result of the poll, which was conducted from August 14th, 2023 to February 7th, 2024, showed that 38% per cent of respondents proposed to vote for Prince Clem Agba if the election was held at the time of the poll, while Asue Ighodalo got 20% per cent, and 17% for Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
Dr Smart said the report showed an analysis of the performances of all the aspirants in Edo State, in the poll during which a total number of calls made was 270,785 while 253,927 responses were recorded.
The voters’ positive response votes made by the survey calls for seven candidates in the upcoming Edo State Governorship elections to be held were recorded.
The data was collated and analyzed to provide insights into the electoral dynamics and candidates’ performances in the eighteen Local Government Areas.
The following figures show the positive responses from registered voters to questions around the seven selected candidate in state., to wit: Philip Shaibu [20,404], Clwm Agba [95,595], Olumide Akpata [42,471] Dennis Idahosa [21,969], Asue Ighodalo [50,165], Oserhiemen Osunbor [16,350].
Those who answered in the affirmative to the question on Esan Agenda were 6,973.
From rhe above figures, Clem Agba has the highest number of positive responses in the entire state followed by Asue Ighodalo.
“This shows that Clem Agba has the highest chances of wining the governorship election for the APC,” Dr Smart stated.
Olumide came third with 17%, while Dennis Idahosa was a distant fourth with 9%. Two other aspirants came behind Idahosa.
“Prince Clem Agba’s 38 per cent lead at this stage is significant, but not sufficient to separate him from a leading pack of candidates scoring 20% for Asue Ighodalo and Olumide at 17 per cent and Dennis Idahosa at 9 oer cent,” Dr Smart said in the statement issued on Thursday.
“Undecided voters and those who preferred not to reveal their preferred candidate added up to a whopping 3% and 2%, respectively.
“The gender split of decided voters shows that 38% of women and youths have decided versus 21% of male voters.
“This result was polled from the 253,927 respondents; after which we conducted similar polls with a respondents sample size, the difference in the results was not significant.”
GEO-POLITICAL ZONES DISTRIBUTION
In Edo north, the poll places Clem Agba in the lead with 72% per cent, followed by Philip the current deputy governor with 21% percent.
In Edo central, Asue Ighodalo led with 39% per cent, Osunbor with 24% per cent, Clem Agba with 21%.
Also, a study carried out on people who wanted the Esan agenda recorder 9 percent.
In Edo South, Clem Agba came tops with 34 per cent, followed by Olumide Akpata with 24 percent, Asue Ighodalo with 19 per cent, Dennis Idahosa with 12 percent, Philip Shaibu with 6 pet cent, and Osunbor wirh 4 per cent.
People who responded positively that they would vote for Esan agenda was 2 per cent.
In the statement, the organisation said the August 2023 to February 2024 polls were conducted because of the combination of the decided voters and those with preferred candidates. Voters who refused to disclose their preferences, is not enough to change the poll outcome if the election is held today in the do state.
“Our projections, consistent with our similar projections in past years in polling and critical survey, have pointed to the most possible conclusion that the trends are clear enough to establish the front-runners and so our subsequent polls will continue to concentrate on the leading candidates only,” the statement reads.
