Edo Election: PDP Accuses APC Of Rigging Following Okpebholo’s Victory

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has contested the results of Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State, which declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, as the new governor. On Sunday, Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who serves as the Chairman of the Edo State Governorship Election National Campaign Council, asserted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should be held accountable for violating the Electoral Act.

Okpebholo secured 291,667 votes, defeating PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, who received 247,274 votes, and Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata, who finished third with 22,763 votes.

The APC won 10 out of the 18 Local Government Areas in the state, while the PDP won 8. However, the PDP, supported by its Governors Forum, insisted that Ighodalo “clearly won the election.”

In a statement on Sunday, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba explained that Fintiri had presented results from the polling units that showed 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.”

The PDP Governors Forum, led by Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, said the Independent National Electoral Commission must live up to the expectations of the people as an “impartial umpire.”

The PDP governors urged INEC to announce results that accurately reflected the wishes of the Edo people as expressed through their votes on Saturday.

“This becomes more imperative, especially in the face of the threat to democracy by the total state capture inclination of the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress government,” the forum stated.

“As the country perches on the horns of grave economic and security challenges, it is our expectation that INEC and everyone involved in the Edo Governorship Elections will respect the sovereign wishes of the people of Edo State and spare the nation the unpredictable consequences of a disputed result at this time.

 “The PDPGF unequivocally reiterates its commitment to democratic best practices, and the peace and stability of a united Nigeria in which the citizens are not only spared the contrived ordeal of the moment but, more importantly, provided alternative opportunities to realise their legitimate dreams.

“Finally, we stand with our Governors, H/E Fintiri, H/E Diri, H/E Agbu Kefas, and H/E Oborevwori of Adamawa, Bayelsa, Taraba, and Delta States respectively, on all the actions and positions that they have taken on our behalf, with respect to maintaining the sanctity of the elections.”

At the collation centre on Sunday, the state agent of the PDP, Iyoha Osaigbovo, stated that the figures credited to APC were not a true reflection of the wish of the electorate.

Osaigbovo said, “We do not accept this result as it’s clear that the figures were allocated to the APC by INEC to aid their victory. The result, which is not a reflection of the people’s wish, may come to hunt you the people presiding over the announcement.”

Jarrett Tenebe, the acting APC chairman in Edo State, took exception to Osaigbovo’s frequent references to his party in his comments, stating that he was satisfied with the election outcome.

He noted that Edo North, which his party won, has long been a stronghold for the APC, becoming even stronger after the reinstated Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, rejoined.

Tenebe, in response to Osaigbovo’s claims that the BVAS did not function properly or was tampered with,  said, “I would like to urge the CoS to leave the APC out of his observations and complaints. He should direct his complaints to the collation and announcement of results.”

However, the state chairman of the PDP, Tony Aziegbemi, alleged alteration of results, demanding re-collation and re-computation in a letter titled, ‘Re: Protest against manufactured vote entries and unjust inflation of APC votes and deduction of PDP votes in the collation of results of Edo State Governorship Election held on 21 September 2024.’

In the letter addressed to the office of the INEC chairman in Abuja and made available to journalists in Benin City on Sunday, the ruling party alleged that the INEC Result Viewing had inflated the votes to favour the APC.

The chairman alleged that results from some units in three Local Government Areas – Akoko Edo, Egor, and Etsako West were manipulated.

The letter read, “It has come to our attention that the Electoral Officers appointed by the INEC for the conduct of the Edo State Governorship election, made entries that are different from the actual results as uploaded on the INEC IREV, thereby unjustly inflating votes in favour of the APC and deducting the votes of the PDP.

“In Akoko Edo Local Government Area, a simple collation of all the votes recorded in the polling units results uploaded on the IREV shows that the APC obtained 25,010 votes while 34,847 votes was recorded in the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer. For the PDP, a collation of the votes from the results uploaded on the IREV is 18,620 but 15,865 was returned on the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer.

“It would interest you that in Ward 9 of Akoko Edo LGA, from the 36 Polling Unit results uploaded on the IREV, the total votes obtained by APC is 2,350 while 9104 was entered into the EC8B result for APC. However, the total votes for PDP is 1,359 while 633 were entered in the EC8B. Also, in Ward 6 Akoko Edo LGA, where elections were not held 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).”

It added, “In Egor LGA,  a simple collation of all the votes recorded in the polling unit results uploaded on the IREV shows that the APC obtained 10,972 votes while 16,760 votes were recorded in the ECBC declared by the LGA Returning Officer. For the PDP, a collation of the votes from the results uploaded on the IREV is 14,485 but 14,658 were returned on the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer. It would interest you to note that the collation of the Egor Local Government Area was not done at the designated LGA centre but was moved to the INEC state headquarters and the PDP agent was not allowed access to be part of the exercise.

“In Etsako West, a simple collation of all the votes recorded in the polling unit results uploaded on the IREV shows that the APC obtained 29,858 votes while 32,107 votes were recorded in the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer. For the PDP, a collation of the votes from the results uploaded on the IREV is 16,712 but 17,483 was returned on the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer.

“The above highlighted irregularities which are very apparent are extremely scandalous and a brazen attempt to steal the mandate of the PDP and also a terrible embarrassment to the commission.”

The state’s Labour Party PRO, Sam Uruopa, said that his party was still reviewing the results and would come up with a position after that.

When asked if he thought that INEC skewed the result in favour of the APC, he replied, “After we review the result we will come up with a position. It is, however, disheartening that the electorate was induced with money on Election Day, which puts a dent on the credibility of the process.”

PDP Youths Protest

Members of the PDP youth wing staged a protest at the INEC office, alleging that the announced election results had been tampered with and differed from what was recorded at the polling units.

Although security operatives restricted the protesters to Ramat Park in the Ikpoba Hill area of the city, the youths expressed their displeasure by singing solidarity songs and waving leaves.

At the same time, a senior PDP official disclosed that the party is considering various options, including legal action, to reverse the decision. He mentioned that the party chairman has already written to the INEC chairman in Abuja, demanding a recount and recomputation of the results.