The Independent National Electoral Commission condemned Peoples Democratic Party governors on Sunday for allegedly manipulating the Edo State governorship election on September 21, 2024.
INEC declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress the winner with 291,667 votes, while the PDP candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, received 247,274 votes.
Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party took third place with 22,761 votes.
Following its two-day conference in Jos, Plateau State, on Saturday, the PDP Governors Forum reiterated its position, claiming that election anomalies denied its candidate victory in Edo and alleged vote-buying in Ondo.
The PDP governors claimed that INEC manipulated the results of the Edo gubernatorial election to benefit the APC.
The party urged the judges and parliament to improve election legislation in order to prevent “institutional sabotage of the will of the people.”
“The forum expresses alarm over the robbery of democracy in Edo gubernatorial elections. Everyone with a conscience can see that INEC altered the results in favor of the APC candidate, despite the fact that the PDP candidate, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, received a plurality of valid votes.
“Meanwhile, we are still investigating the documents from the Ondo elections, in which the APC manipulated the results after openly buying votes.” The PDP Governors’ Forum issued a statement urging the judiciary to defend Nigerian democracy and the National Assembly to examine our electoral rules to make institutional sabotage of the people’s will more difficult.
In response to the charges, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, termed them as “unfortunate and inappropriate.”
“As a law-abiding organization, we are unable to comment on a case that is before the court. Oyekanmi claimed that it is sub judice.
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