By Kolawole Ojebisi
It appears the last has not been heard of the recently conducted governorship election in Edo State as the outcome of the exercise continues to generate ripple across the state.
What looked like a lull on the political landscape of the state days after the election was shattered on Wednesday evening when some loyalists of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state trooped to streets and besieged the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Benin City.
These loyalists said their visit to the INEC office is to demand recovery of what they claim is the rightful mandate of their preferred candidate, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Armed with various placards screaming grievances like “Edo PDP won the election but INEC and police colluded to change it,” among others, the protesters kept chanting solidarity songs in Yoruba language,
On September 22, the All Progressives Congress candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, was announced as the winner of the governorship election, defeating his main challengers, Ighodalo of f the PDP and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
Dissatisfied with the result, the PDP said the INEC should be held accountable for violating the Electoral Act, claiming that Ighodalo allegedly won the election.
According to the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba explained that Fintiri presented “results” from a the polling units showing Ighodalo in a clear lead.
The PDP stated, “The Peoples Democratic Party stands by the results of the Edo State Governorship election as garnered by its polling agents across the state and echoed by the Chairman of the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, which indicate that the PDP candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, clearly won the election.
“The PDP asserts that the rush, venom, and hauling of insults with which the All Progressives Congress attacked Governor Fintiri only confirms APC’s violent desperation to cover its manipulations and steal the mandate freely given to Dr. Asue Ighodalo by the people of Edo State as reflected in the genuine votes cast at the Polling Units.
“As Governor Fintiri presented, the results collated from the Polling Units have Asue Ighodalo in a clear lead before the state collation exercise was hijacked by the APC, which, in connivance of some unscrupulous INEC and security officials, engaged in blatant alteration and substitution of the genuine results with fabricated figures in favour of the defeated APC candidate.”
