The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has said it stands by the results obtained by its polling agents across the state and confirmed by the chairman of the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State. The results alleged that Ighodalo won the election.
Fintiri had expressed deep concern over the state of Nigeria’s democracy following the recent Edo State governorship election, describing it as yet another attack on the country’s democratic process.
On Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the Edo governorship election.
Okpebholo, who currently serves as a senator, secured victory with 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes. Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) came a distant third, with 22,763 votes.
Fintiri, who chaired the PDP campaign council for the election, alleged that the poll was marred by vote-buying, disruption of collation processes, and questionable results.
In a post on social media platform X, the Adamawa governor said he was heartbroken by the conduct of the election.
“I weep for Nigeria’s democracy after witnessing the shameful Edo gubernatorial poll,” Fintiri wrote.
Before INEC announced the final results, Fintiri held a press conference alongside Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and PDP candidate Asue Ighodalo.
During the briefing, Fintiri presented what he described as collated results from some local government areas in Edo State. His move drew criticism from some political figures who accused him of overstepping his bounds and “usurping the powers” of the electoral commission.
Defending his actions, Fintiri said he did not announce any results but merely shared data from INEC’s IREV portal, which publishes election results in real time.
“The APC’s desperate attempts to discredit me by falsely claiming I announced results won’t distract from the real issue. I merely shared results from INEC’s IREV portal, as collated by INEC from the various Local Government Areas,” he said.
Fintiri also criticised the conduct of the APC on election day, accusing the party of violating electoral norms. He pointed to the presence of APC’s national chairman in Edo State on election day, despite restrictions on movement, as well as reports of APC governors using armored escorts to intimidate voters.
“This blatant disregard for democratic norms is the real brigandage,” Fintiri said.
The Adamawa governor also voiced concerns over allegations of vote-buying and irregularities in the collation process, which he claimed undermined the integrity of the election. He accused INEC of compromising its neutrality and favoring the APC, citing reports of results that exceeded the number of accredited voters in some areas.
“Nigerians are outraged, slamming INEC for compromising and favouring APC. The reported vote-buying, disruption of collation processes, and suspicious results with more votes than accredited voters undermine trust in our democracy,” he added.
Fintiri called on Nigerians and the international community to condemn what he termed “the rape of democracy” and to demand accountability for the irregularities witnessed during the election.
“Democracy indeed is under attack. We must condemn this rape of democracy and demand accountability. The world is watching, and Nigeria deserves better,” Fintiri stated.
He further alleged that agents of the PDP were denied access to collation centers during the election, a move he claimed contributed to the flawed process.
Also, the Edo State chapter of PDP protested the collation of results in the governorship election by INEC. It alleged that the commission was manufacturing votes, entering an unjust inflation of APC votes, and deducting PDP votes.
In a statement by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP said, “As Governor Fintiri presented, the results collated from the polling units have Asue Ighodalo in clear lead before the state collation exercise was hijacked by the APC, which in connivance with 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.”
The statement released before the final declaration of the results by INEC said PDP had on several occasions alerted Nigerians to the sinister plot by APC and its candidate, Okpebholo.
According to Ologunagba, “The PDP in the strongest terms, cautions the APC and INEC not to announce or declare any result that does not reflect the will of the people as expressed at the polling units. Such will be a recipe for a huge crisis in the state, as the people of Edo State will never allow their mandate in illegitimate hands.
“Our party again cautions INEC not to lose sight of the violent protest that trailed the criminal attempt by the former Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mallam Hudu Ari, to alter the outcome of the 2023 governorship election in that state, which nearly led to the death of some INEC officials.
“Any attempt to change the results of the Edo State governorship election and allocate victory to a defeated candidate will provoke worse consequences. INEC must, therefore, do that which is right in the interest of peace, stability and sustenance of Democracy in Nigeria.”
The state chairman of PDP, Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, who made the allegation of vote manufacturing at a press conference, said he called the conference because of what the party saw on the conduct of the election. Aziegbemi alleged that the process was characterised by massive irregularities.
Requesting that INEC should look into the party’s observations, Aziegbemi said preliminary reports from the electoral umpire in three local government areas showed massive discrepancies.
For example, he said Egor collation did not take place in the local government area, contrary to the electoral law, which required that all collations must be at the local government.
Aziegbemi told INEC that entries made were totally different from the actual results as uploaded on the INEC IREV, thereby unjustly inflating votes in favour of APC and deducting the votes of PDP.
Specifically, Aziegbemi said in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, a simple collation of all the votes recorded in the polling unit results uploaded on the IREV showed that APC obtained 25,010 votes while PDP got 34,847 votes.
He stated, “It would interest you that in Ward 9 Akoko Edo LGA, from the 36 polling unit results uploaded on the IREV, the total votes obtained by APC is 2,350 while 9,104 was entered into the EC8B result for APC. The total votes for PDP is 1,359 while 633 was entered in the EC8B.
“Also, in Ward 6 Akoko Edo LGA, where elections did not hold in Ward 6 Units 12, 17, 15, 18, 14 and 16, results were returned for the said polling units in the Ward Result sheet (EC8B).”
The Edo PDP chairman requested INEC not to announce the final results until all the observations were corrected. He added that if the right thing was done, Ighodalo of PDP would win the election.
Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha, Chioma Kalu
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