Post-election fireworks arising from the Edo State governorship won by the All Progressives Congress (APC) intensified yesterday as the opposition parties and civil society organisations raised questions about its outcome.
The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday declared the outcome of last Saturday's governorship election in Edo State, won by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo, as unacceptable.
The main opposition party also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review the election and announce results only as obtained from the genuine votes cast at the polling units (PUs) within the time stipulated by Section 65 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Similarly, the former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and the party's governorship candidate in the state, Olumide Akpata, rejected the poll's outcome, describing it as state capture.
However, the victorious APC dismissed the claims, saying that its candidate rightfully won the election.
Director of publicity in the APC Campaign Council, Omo-Ojo Orobosa, dismissed allegations of vote buying, describing the claim a myopic.
President Bola Tinubu, while congratulating the APC and Okpebholo, urged all those aggrieved by the election outcome to seek redress through legal channels.
He said the victory testified to the people's support for the ruling party, its progressive ideals and economic reengineering programme, and commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians.
Meanwhile, Yiaga Africa, in a post-election statement, said the exercise was flawed by compromised INEC and security personnel. It also called on INEC to urgently clarify the inconsistencies in some results, especially those from Oredo, Egor, and Esan West local government areas (LGAs).
For its part, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) called for the speedy and thorough investigation and trial of vote buyers arrested at last weekend's Edo governorship election.
After months of intense and caustic campaigns, APC's Okpebholo, 54, polled 291 667 votes to defeat Ighodalo, who scored 247 279.
Labour Party's candidate, Olumide Akpata, finished third with 22,761 votes, while fourteen other candidates received significantly fewer votes.
Over 2.2 million voters were eligible for the election involving 17 candidates and their political parties, which was held in 4519 polling units of the state's 18 local governments.
APC secured control in two of the state's three senatorial districts to emerge as winners in the keenly contested race.
But addressing a press conference in Abuja, acting national chairman of PDP Amb. Umar Iliya Damagum said the APC, in connivance with government-controlled agencies, brazenly rigged the election, which he said threatened Nigeria's democracy.
He said the election was barefacedly compromised by the APC in collusion with unpatriotic security operatives and heavily procured officials of NEC, who trampled on the votes of the people in defiance of the Law and total disregard to the sovereign will of the people of Edo State.
The acting chairman recalled that PDP had several times given an alert on a plot by the APC to subvert the election through the roles allegedly being played by some top police officers and INEC officials.
He said several PDP demands for the redeployment of the officials and the release of all arrested PDP members and supporters fell on deaf ears, validating its suspicion of a top-level conspiracy to rig the Edo State governorship election.
"Nigerians and the world watched in horror as the APC-compromised security operatives and thugs unleashed terror, harassed, arrested and detained PDP members and supporters, foisted a siege mentality on the people and paved the way for APC agents and procured INEC officials to manipulate the ballot process, substituted genuine results from the Polling Units with fictitious figures, and transferred the victory clearly won by our candidate, Asue Ighodalo, to the defeated APC candidate, Monday Okpebholo.
"As Nigerians already know, despite the violence, intimidation and manipulations by the APC, results obtained from the polling units show that our candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, clearly won the election before the figures were altered at the state collation exercise in favour of the defeated APC candidate.
"The PDP, therefore, unequivocally rejects the final result of the Edo State governorship election as declared by INEC as it did not meet the minimum standard for democracy, having not reflected the expressed will and aspiration of the people in line with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC Guidelines for State Governorship election."
The PDP demanded that INEC review the Edo State governorship election and announce results only as obtained from the genuine votes cast at the polling units within the time stipulated by Section 65 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
On whether the party still has confidence in the Judiciary, Damagum said, "In this election, we shall still put to test once again the level of the preparedness of the judiciary to do justice where it is required. So we cannot overrule a situation whereby justice will be dispensed but the most important thing is that we shall put them to more scrutiny before the eyes of Nigerians because they say that when the judicial system does now work, then you don't have a country. I don't know if we will still have a country."
Edo Election, Blatant State Capture - Obi
On his part, Obi described the election as a blatant example of state capture, which should not stand.
Writing on his X handle on Monday, the former Anambra State governor said that any nation whose leadership recruitment process is fatally flawed, as seen in the Edo election, is doomed.
"What happened over the weekend in the name of election in Edo State does not in any way represent the democratic process we chose as a method of electing our political leadership.
"Instead, it was a blatant example of 'state capture' and continued gross undermining of our democratic process and values.
"Any nation whose leadership recruitment process is so fatally flawed is doomed, and we are all seeing the effect in our country.
"I urge those in authority not to allow this situation to stand, or depend on it to remain in power.
"As a country, we have invested significantly in IReV and BVAS, and they must be allowed to function and used properly to free our electoral process from the massive falsification that has plagued it and worsening."
Obi reminded the agencies and individuals being used to undermine the country's democracy simply because they hold positions of authority to remember that their time in public service is temporal and that the society they are helping to destroy today will eventually come back to haunt them.
"To the lecturers and others complicit in perpetuating this charade, you must reflect deeply on the roles you are playing in damaging the very foundation of our democracy.
"The damage you are causing today will inevitably take revenge on you tomorrow and affect your children in the future.
"This kind of action has no place in a true democracy. That is why I have always maintained that today's politics is not about capturing power, but about saving the country and making it work for everyone, regardless of their background," Obi added.
Election marred by votes buying, intimidation - Akpata
On his part, the candidate of the Labour Party, Olumide Akpata, described the Edo governorship election as a 'transaction' rather than an election due to the prevalence of vote buying,
He said his campaign organisation was conducting a thorough analysis of the exercise to determine whether he would challenge the election outcome at the tribunal.
Briefing newsmen in Benin on the outcome of Saturday's governorship election, Akpata said that although the election was largely free from historical forms of election-day malpractice such as ballot box snatching and stuffing, it was nevertheless marred by voter intimidation and the falsification of results.
He lamented a widespread vote-buying scheme by the APC and the PDP.
Akpata said the Labour Party steadfastly refused to engage in the cash-and-carry approach adopted by the two main political parties, whose governors may have dipped their hands into the states' treasuries to fund the malpractice.
"Even if we had the resources, we lacked the inclination to participate in such a perversion of democracy. Nothing clearly illustrates this principle more than the loss of my polling unit. If I were so inclined, I could have easily mustered enough cash to secure enough votes to win my polling unit, but that is not the path we chose.
"Instead, we remained faithful to our brief in the sanctity of the ballot and the inalienable right of our people to choose their leaders without coercion and inducement. This was not political naivety but a testament to our unwavering commitment to true democracy, where a vote's value lies in its power to effect change, not in the amount of naira it can command," he said.
He deplored those who engaged in vote buying and said that their actions had directly contributed to the destruction of the state's economy over the past 25 years, creating the enabling environment for this democratic sacrilege to thrive.
"I hold no sympathy for the PDP, who now cries foul after being outmaneuvered in this macabre game of thrones. They willingly participated in the bidding war with the APC, fully aware of the rules from the outset. Their lamentations ring hollow in the face of their own complicity in this democratic travesty," Akpata added.
APC Rejects Accusations
But director of publicity in the APC Campaign Council, Omo-Ojo Orobosa, refuted Akpata's allegation of vote buying, saying the claim is myopic.
Orobosa said, "He knows nothing about politics. He would do better if he remains on the path of law and leave politics for the politicians. His allegation can be likened to a man who destroyed his ladder and he is finding it difficult to climb up and start blaming the carpenter. Your first responsibility is to make sure your leader is strong enough.
"LP party is a gathering of boys and girls who spent their time on the internet. They couldn't get party agents and if you could not hire agents, is he expecting agents of APC to act as his agent. Nobody was there to sign for LP results when it was being collated.
His outburst amounts to nonentity and political failure," he said.
YIAGA Africa says election failed electoral integrity test
Yiaga Africa, one of the observers for the 2024 Edo governorship election, has lent its voice in condemning aspects of Saturday poll, saying it failed the electoral integrity test as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials compromised the collation process.
The election observer organisation, in its post-election statement signed by the chair, Edo 2024 Election Mission, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, and executive director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, stated that "the incidents of results manipulation and disruptions during ward and local government collation in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor and Oredo LGAs, including intimidation of INEC officials, observers, and party agents and the collation of results contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines severely undermine the credibility of the election results."
On the conduct of the election by INEC, Yiaga Africa, said: "Based on reports received from the sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa can project the expected vote shares for each party within a narrow margin. However, Yiaga Africa is only able to verify the election outcome if it falls within its estimated margins. If the official results do not fall within Yiaga Africa's estimated ranges, then the results may have been manipulated.
"According to INEC, the All Progressive Congress (APC) received 51.1% of the votes, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 43.3% of the votes, and the Labor Party garnered 4.0% of the votes. Based on reports from 287 of 300 (96%) sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa's statistical analysis shows inconsistencies in the official results announced by INEC. For instance, the official results announced by INEC for APC in Oredo and Egor LGAs fall outside the PRVT estimate. In Esan West LGA, the official results for PDP fall outside the PRVT estimates.
"Also, in Oredo LGA, the official results as announced for LP fall outside the PRVT estimates. These inconsistencies with Yiaga Africa's PRVT estimates indicate that the results were altered at the level of collation. The disparities between the official results released by INEC and Yiaga Africa's PRVT estimates indicate manipulation of results during the collation process."
According to the statement, Yiaga Africa strongly condemned the actions of some biased INEC officials who altered figures during collation, including the actions of some security officials who interfered with the collation process.
"Yiaga Africa notes that the cases of disruption in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs in the course of collation created opportunities for election manipulation, raising significant concerns about the credibility and integrity of the results collation process," it said.
The organisation called for the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers who were engaged in results manipulation and flagrant violations of the guidelines on results collation.
It called on INEC to urgently clarify the inconsistencies in some of the results, especially election results from Oredo, Egor, and Esan West LGAs.
CDD Demands Speedy Trial Of Vote Buyers
Another civil society organisation, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), has called for the speedy and thorough investigation and trial of vote buyers arrested at last weekend's Edo governorship election.
CDD also asked INEC to carefully review uploads on its election results viewing portal, iRev, against the announced results, and where there are discrepancies it should take necessary remedial actions.
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The chairman of the CDD-Election Analysis Centre (EAC), Professor Adele Jinadu, who stated this at the Edo gubernatorial post-election press briefing in Abuja on Monday, said the discrepancies were noticed on the result portal, iRev, such as the upload of blurry results and over-voting in some polling units.
Jinadu said given the challenge posed by the downpour in parts of the state during the election, INEC should work closely with NiMET in subsequent elections to ensure adequate arrangements for safe-guarding paper-based election materials from rain while proper shelters are deployed instead of open spaces for the conduct of the process in future.
He said: "Collation of results is a fundamental aspect of the electoral process. CDD therefore recommends that any controversy and/or loss of confidence in that regard should be resolved transparently and in a timely fashion before proceeding with final declarations.
"This particularly speaks to CDD's observed inconsistencies in Ovia North East where incidences of blurred results, over-voting and disparity in result upload were reported by our observers.
"The centre recommends that the crisis communication apparatus of the electoral commission must be activated in periods of great need to avoid conflict in communication and dangerous public perception it may portend.
"The CDD-EAC commends the citizens of Edo for their participation in the electoral process. From voting to the collation and counting of results, the electorate demonstrated commitment to a peaceful and credible election.
"As the process transitions into the post-election phase, we urge all political stakeholders to continue upholding peace, respect the rule of law, and follow due process in resolving post-election disputes over the results of the elections."
It urged INEC to correct observed faults ahead of the forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections in Ondo in November 2024 to ensure a hitch-free exercise "as we aim to further consolidate Nigeria's democratic experience."
How APC, PDP Won, Lost Edo Polls
The inability of Governor Godwin Obaseki to lead a united PDP going into the governorship election harmed the party. Major PDP gladiators such as Rt. Hon Ogbeide Ihama, Senator Mathew Uroghide, Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu and Hon Omorede Igbinedion, dumped the party for the APC.
Meanwhile, others like Senator Francis Alimikena; PDP BoT member, Hon Charles Idahosa and the suspended vice chairman of PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, openly worked for the APC.
In Edo North Senatorial District, the APC swept the six local government areas under Senator Adams Oshiomhole leadership.
The zone also parades political gladiators like minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Hon Abubakar Momoh, Rt.Hon. Peter Akpatason and Hon Kabiru Adjoto.
Beside, the impeachment of Rt.Hon. Phillip Shaibu also infuriated people of the senatorial district against Obaseki, further worsened the situation for PDP.
Also, Obaseki's alleged acrimony against the revered institution of the Benin Monarch, Omo N' Oba N' Edo, Uku Akpolokpolor, Oba Ewuare II and the entire Benin Traditional Council may have influenced the Bini's to vote against the PDP.
The refusal to inaugurate the 14 members-elect of the Edo State House of Assembly. Ten of the 14 members that were denied inauguration were from the Edo South Senatorial district including the elected representative of the governor's Oredo East Constituency- Hon. Chris Okaeben, which worsened PDP's base in Benin.
