The candidate of the Accord Party in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, Dr Bright Enabulele has approached the state election tribunal to challenge the process that produced Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the Governor-elect.
Enabulele alleged that the election was characterised by electoral malpractices and fraud by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), and sought to be declared as the winner of the governorship election.
The Accord Party candidate who claimed that the results were manipulated, cited his experience at Ward 5 at St Saviour Ivbiyeneva Primary School unit 1 in the Ikpoba/Okha local government area, where he voted but officially received zero vote.
Speaking to journalists in Benin City after his counsel submitted his petition to the election tribunal, Enabulele said, his prayers to the tribunal was to declare him as the winner of the election or cancel the entire exercise, adding, “There was fraud, intimidation, and deliberate announcement of wrong results by INEC”.
Enabulele said he was not against the winner of the election, but the process leading to the acclaimed victory, and maintained that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was to reduce human interference but alleged that the machine was manipulated.
He said the court order obtained by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was wrong as the BVAS was supposed to serve as evidence in court, when the tribunal begins sitting.
He said, “The case is against two parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who conducted the election and the APC candidate (Monday Okpebholo) that they declared winner. The reason for the challenge is due to non-compliance with the electoral process. My mandate was stolen, there was fraud, intimidation and deliberate announcement of wrong results.
“Nigeria is a country governed by rule of law. I have been crying many days now due to the outcome of the election. We cannot continue to rely on human interference. The BVAS was made to reduce human interference, but the BVAS was manipulated, there was manipulation at the collation process. Many agents were intimidated to sign wrong results.”
Continuing, he said. “We are telling Nigerians that the most important thing is how our leaders emerge. If the process is wrong, then we can never get it right. I am not against the winner of the election, but against how the winner emerged, if somebody wins let him win correctly; if he loses, let him lose correctly.
“We cannot allow people’s votes to be stolen, it doesn’t matter whether it was 100 or 200. For me, my mandate was stolen. They should declare me winner or cancel the election.
“I was told that PDP obtained court order to inspect BVAS, for me again, it is wrong. Nobody should be given access to the BVAS, because it is supposed to serve as evidence in the court. You cannot go to court without evidence. It is not about winning or losing, but that the will of the people should stand. Democracy is about the will of the people,” he said.
