Hundreds of members and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the outcome of the September 21st governorship election.
The protesters expressed their dissatisfaction with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), alleging that the commission was compromised during the electoral process.
They claimed that INEC failed to announce the results that reflected the actual votes cast, insisting that the PDP emerged as the rightful winner of the election.
The demonstration highlighted the party’s concerns over electoral integrity and called for accountability from the electoral body.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal said it was yet to receive any petition from any of the political parties contesting the outcome of the election.
The Secretary of the Tribunal, Mu’azu Bagudu Esq., told Vanguard on phone that the petitioners have twenty days from the date the result of the election was announced to file their petitions.
The PDP protesters took over one lane of the Aduwawa Road opposite where the INEC office is situated and called on the Commission to announce the “actual” result of the election.
Addressing the crowd opposite the gate of the Commission’s office, the Director General of the Asue/Ogie Governorship Campaign Council, Hon Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, said, “INEC does not exist again; APC has destroyed INEC and we will not allow this to stand. Many of us fought for democracy in this country; I was one of the first beneficiaries of democratic office in 1999. We stood against the annulment of June 12, and we fought the military when Abacha wanted to succeed himself; some people cannot claim to be democrats and want to turn this country into a dictatorial state.”
“We will not accept it; the Edo people voted, and everybody that voted knows who they voted for. We all voted for Asue Ighodalo; he is our governor. In a system where the REC of INEC is here with one person writing results inside the office is not acceptable.”
He said that even though they don’t have confidence in the judiciary, they would take their grievance to the election tribunal.
Also speaking, the state chairman of the PDP, Hon Tony Aziegbemi, said that the party had lost the election in a free and fair manner, the party and the candidate would have congratulated the winner.
According to him, “The preliminary analysis we have done showed clearly that this election was won clean and clear by Asue Ighodalo. We will present that case to the tribunal; we believe the tribunal is made up of men of integrity. We believe they will look at those documents and come to the inevitable conclusion that PDP won the election; we are going there with an open mind.”