October 06, (THEWILL) – In a bid to justify its claim that the September 21, 2024 governorship poll in Edo State was rigged against the party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has begun to explore all legitimate means to “reclaim its stolen mandate.”
Apart from the legal route, through which the party’s candidate in the election, Asue Ighodalo, confidently said his mandate would be restored, the party has also resolved to register its displeasure with the outcome by hitting the streets in protest .
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, winner of the election after he secured 291,667 votes.
Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party, received 247,274 votes and the Labour Party candidate, Akpata who polled 22,763 votes
The PDP and its candidate have rejected the results. Ighodalo, who has vowed to challenge the results at the Election Petitions Tribunal, alleged that the electoral process was massively violated during the election. He said, “All the forms EC8A in the possession of the PDP, when totaled, showed clearly that we won the election.”
He said there were over 160 polling units when there was over voting in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC, over 160 polling units where the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS, failed to work, especially in locations on Ikpoba Okha, Orhionmwon, Oredo, Etsako and Akoko-Edo local government areas.
About 23 accredited civil society organisations also said that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was compromised during the poll.
“On the integrity test, the 2024 Edo Governorship Election failed the electoral integrity test due to lack of transparency in the results collation process, which led to the manipulation of results,” they summarised.
The APC, however, said the PDP was crying wolf where there was none and asked the party to concede defeat.
On its part, the INEC washed its hands off any involvement in the alleged manipulation of the electoral process. According to the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Commission did not participate in vote-buying, a widespread issue linked to the actions of political parties and not the electoral body.
He said, “Vote-buying and alleged result manipulation are all tied to unscrupulous attempts to gain an unmerited advantage in order to win an election.
“INEC can and should not be held responsible for vote-buying. We are doing our best to fulfil our expected roles. Other stakeholders should also play their part and stop undermining the electoral process.”
Then last Wednesday, thousands of Edo citizens took to the streets of Benin City on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, to protest the outcome of the September 21 governorship election, calling on the INEC to declare Dr Asue Ighodalo of the, PDP, the legitimate winner.
The protesters alleged widespread fraud, malpractices and irregularities in the electoral process, specifically accusing the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Anugbum Onuoha, of manipulating the results in favour of the APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo.
The PDP claimed that the INEC altered the results to favour the APC, sparking tensions and prompting a formal protest to the electoral umpire’s head office at Aduwawa, Benin City.
Ighodalo, the PDP candidate, has severally stated that the electoral process was heavily compromised, citing instances of result tampering and manipulation.
The protesters were seen brandishing placards with various inscriptions, such as ‘Edo PDP won the election but INEC and police colluded to change it’; ‘Dr. Asue Ighodalo, the governor – elect we know’; ‘INEC Stole PDP mandate’; ‘INEC sack Edo State REC’; ‘Stolen Mandate: How APC did it in oredo LG’; ‘13, 526 votes added to APC and 4, 335 votes taken from PDP’; ‘Donatus Etukido, Etsako East should be sacked’, among others.
The protesters urged INEC to take immediate action to address these concerns and ensure the integrity of the electoral process was restored. The situation was tense with many speakers calling for transparency and accountability by INEC.
At the INEC office where heavily armed police officers were stationed to maintain law and order, the protesters expressed their anger at the brazen manipulation of the Edo September 21 governorship election results.
The protesters in their numbers unequivocally reaffirmed and echoed that they all gave their mandate to Asue-Ogie of PDP and wondered why INEC subverted their mandate and gave it to the APC candidate.
They said the results uploaded to INEC’s IREV showed that PDP won and wondered why INEC bypassed the IREV, which was created to give credibility to elections in Nigeria, and declared another result.
The protesters also noted that although the electoral law, as amended, stipulates that INEC has seven days to review the result of an election before announcing it, the electoral umpire was in a hurry to announce and present the Certificate of Return to the wrong person. They demanded that the Certificate of Return should be withdrawn and issued to the rightful person, which is Dr Asue Ighodalo and that all the INEC officers involved in the electoral heist should be brought to book, among others.
They promised to continue the protest until justice was served.
The protesters were led by the PDP State Chairman, Dr Tony Aziegbemi, the PDP Campaign Director-General, Hon. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen and Rev Olu Martins, Deputy Director, Media, among others.
The protest started from Ring Road, which is the city centre, through Akpakpava Road to the INEC State headquarters at Aduwawa, Ramat Park, Ikpoba Hill, Benin City.
Meanwhile, the INEC has given a Certificate of Return to Okpebholo, who pledged to run an open and inclusive government in the state.
On Friday, the APC staged a thank you rally at Irrua, in Edo Central Local Government Area where Senator Okpebholo comes from. Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Okpebholo, who addressed the crowd thanked them for voting for the party and promised to develop the state for everyone.
