PDP rejects Edo election result, insists Ighodalo won, heads to court
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the result of last Saturday’s Edo State Governorship election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
TheNiche had earlier reported that INEC, on Sunday, declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, as winner of election.
However, the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Ambassador Umar Damagum, announced at a media briefing in Abuja, on Monday, that the party will challenge the result in court.
He insisted that the people of Edo State voted for the PDP candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, and expect nothing less than him being announced as governor-elect.
Damagum charged the INEC to use the window left in the Electoral Act to do the right thing by retracing its steps.
According to him, the PDP had raised the alarm of plans by the All Progressives Congress, APC, working in cohorts with “the compromised INEC and the AIG of Police in charge of the zone,” to manipulate the process long before they executed their plot”.
Okpebholo, according to INEC, triumphed over his main challengers, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Faruk Kuta, announced Okpebholo as the winner at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital, on Sunday.
The APC candidate secured 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes. Akpata of the LP finished a distant third with 22,763 votes.
Prof. Kuta, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, declared, “That Okpebholo, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”
Edo State, comprising 18 Local Government Areas, is divided into Edo North, Edo South, and Edo Central. Traditionally, Edo North has been an APC stronghold, while the PDP has maintained dominance in Edo Central and Edo South.