Members and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State took to the streets of Benin on Wednesday, protesting the result of the recently concluded governorship election held on September 21. The protest was directed at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the electoral body declared Senator Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner.
INEC announced that Okpebholo secured a total of 291,667 votes, defeating the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes. Despite the official declaration, the PDP rejected the result, alleging that the election had been manipulated in favor of the APC.
During the protest, PDP members carried banners with inscriptions such as “INEC, sack Edo REC” and “INEC, give us our mandate.” Some of the protesters were heard chanting slogans like “Oshiomhole, Tinubu, give us our mandate.”
Security officers were stationed around the INEC office in Aduwawa, Benin, to ensure that the protest remained peaceful and that the demonstrators did not get too close to the premises. The situation was tense but remained under control throughout the event.
Reacting to the protest, the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Edo State, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie, dismissed the PDP’s actions as futile, stating that no protest could alter the outcome of the election.
In an interview, Uwadiae-Igbinigie said, “The PDP can protest as much as they want but that cannot change the result of the election. They can only approach the tribunal with evidence if they think their mandate has been taken from them.
“Edo people, who do not want the continuation of a PDP government passed a referendum with their voter cards and gave the APC the mandate to govern the state as from November 12.
“It is not about calling on President Bola Tinubu and Senator Adams Oshiomhole to give their mandate back to them. The gentlemen have nothing to do with their mandate. They can approach the tribunal to ventilate their grievances,” Uwadiae-Igbinigie.
The protest was led by prominent PDP figures in the state, including the chairman of the Edo State chapter, Tony Aziegbemi; the Director-General of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Council, Mathew Iduoriyekewen; and Deputy Director-General for Media and Publicity, Olu Martins.
Aziegbemi, while addressing the protesters, accused INEC of manipulating the results and called on the electoral body to declare Ighodalo as the rightful winner.
He said: “We thank you all for coming out today on a journey to reclaim the mandate taken away from us.
“If we had lost this election in a free and fair contest, we would have congratulated them but, because they stole our mandate, we can’t congratulate them.
“Go and sleep, as we are going to reclaim the mandate stolen from us. We are calling on the judiciary to look at our submission and be truthful in their judgement. This is Nigeria and we can’t be robbed of our victory as we are sure of reclaiming our stolen mandate as we will present overwhelming evidence.
“We are sure that we will recover our mandate as the preliminary analysis we have done shows that this election was won clearly by Ighodalo. We will present the case to the tribunal.
“We believe that the tribunal is made up of men and women of integrity; they will look at the evidence before them and conclude that PDP won the election. We are going to the tribunal with an open mind.
“PDP is a very peaceful party, as it always preaches peace, and all along our protest, it has been violence-free and it will continue to be so.”
He further assured the crowd that the PDP would present its case before the election tribunal, where they believe overwhelming evidence would prove that Ighodalo won the election.
Iduoriyekewen also reiterated the party’s commitment to continue peaceful protests until their candidate’s mandate is restored.
The APC, however, stood firm in its stance, with Uwadiae-Igbinigie encouraging the PDP to seek redress in court if they truly believe in their claims, rather than relying on protests to overturn the election result.
