Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State took to the streets on Wednesday to stage a protest at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benin City, demanding a reversal of the recently announced governorship election results in the State.
Carrying placards and displaying PDP insignia, the protesters called on INEC to overturn the results of the September 21 governorship election, which declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner.
The demonstrators insisted that the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, was the rightful winner of the poll, not Okpebholo. INEC had announced that Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes, while Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) came in distant third with 22,763 votes. 14 other candidates participated in the election.
However, both Ighodalo and Akpata have contested the results, accusing the APC of vote buying. “The election was marred by irregularities, and the APC resorted to underhanded tactics to secure victory,” Ighodalo stated. The APC has since denied the allegations.
Ighodalo has vowed to challenge the outcome of the election in court, maintaining that the will of the people was subverted.
