By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
The Labour Party in Edo State has revealed why it lost the recent governorship election in the state.
It asserted that the party would have emerged victorious if the election had been conducted fairly and freely.
Chairman of the Labour Party in Edo State, Mr Kelly Ogbalo made this disclosure in an interview with the journalists in Benin.
According to Ogbalo, the election was marred by serious irregularities, including open vote-buying that security agencies failed to check.
“Labour Party won the election but was not allowed to take possession,” Ogbalo stated, attributing the loss to widespread electoral malpractices.
“The election was marred with serious irregularities; there was open vote-buying. The security agencies failed to check this anomaly,” Ogbalo alleged.
“So, in such a way where votes were bought and with manipulation of results here and there, what do you expect?”
Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party’s candidate, came third with 22,763 votes, behind Asue Ighodalo of PDP who scored 247,274 votes and Monday Okpebholo of the APC, who polled 291,667 votes to win the election.
When asked if the Labour Party would challenge the result in court, Ogbalo said that the party had yet to convene a state council meeting to decide on the matter.