Some residents of Edo State on Wednesday, besieged the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Benin City on Wednesday, demanding the recovery of what they claim is the rightful mandate of their preferred candidate, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The protesters, carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Dr Asue Ighodalo, the governor-elect that we know ” and “Edo PDP won the election but INEC and police colluded to change it,” among others expressed dissatisfaction over the outcome of the recent elections in the state.
Chanting solidarity songs in the Yoruba language, the crowd, consisting of supporters from various local government areas, accused the INEC of mishandling the election results.
They called for immediate action to address what they described as electoral injustice.
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 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 won the election.
PDP’s National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba explained that Fintiri presented results from 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.”
