The All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed allegations of election fraud made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the results of the Edo State governorship election held on Saturday.
The APC warned that challenging the election results in court would be futile and a waste of resources.
On Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Senator Monday Okpebholo, the APC candidate, as the winner of the closely contested election.
He secured 291,667 votes, winning 10 out of 18 local government areas, while his main opponent, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP, received 247,274 votes. Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata came third with 22,761 votes.
Following the announcement of the results, the PDP rejected the outcome, claiming the election was marred by irregularities. The party’s acting national chairman, Umar Damagum, announced their intention to contest the results in court.
However, APC’s National Publicity Director, Bala Ibrahim, dismissed these allegations in a phone interview.
He said, “They have a right to go to court and we will encourage them to do it so we can finish them finally. They have been defeated at the poll and they will be defeated again in the court. Before the election, they were boasting that they had enough support from the people to win the election. But that support failed them.
“The same way the evidence they claim to have in going to court will fail them. This is because the allegation they are making is unfounded and they would not be able to prove anything. But because democracy has given everyone the right to challenge elections in court, we encourage them to go there so we can nail their coffin there.”
On a similar note, Edo APC spokesperson, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie, called on the PDP to provide concrete evidence of fraud. He argued that the election was peaceful, with no reports of violence or manipulation at the polling stations.
He said, “They should bring evidence of over voting or where INEC aided APC’s victory so that they can be taken seriously. If you lose an election, you should be bold enough to say ‘yes.’
“The spirit of sportsmanship is lacking in PDP. The only person that exhibited this was President Goodluck Jonathan. The people left in PDP are the ones who don’t have conscience. How can anybody say that APC rigged this election?
“Let me tell you about vote-buying, which is the alias of the PDP. If you go to the field that day you will know how much the PDP spent. The people took the money and still voted their heart. They believe they were collecting the money taken from them. What we did was mobilise people to their polling units no matter how remote it was.
“We were the opposition in Edo and I can tell you we had no money to buy votes. The constitution and the electoral act is structured in such a way that if you have complains after the election, you have the opportunity to ventilate your anger in court or tribunal were they can present evidences.
“They have told us that they are going to the tribunal, we will meet them there,” he added.
He added, “If you monitored the election in the state, is there any where heard of gunshot, ballot box snatching or any place where INEC officials were manhandled? This is the freest election that INEC has conducted in the fourth republic.
“Despite the early morning rain on election day, voting commenced in the most peaceful manner. The police, party agents, INEC officials and other stakeholders were alive to their responsibilities.
“They never thought we would win Oredo, Egor and put up a good show in Ikpoba Okha. These were areas they banked on to defeat us but we mobilised our people to come out and vote.
“The brigandage of the government of Edo needed to stop with this election. The people are tired of MoUs, unfulfilled promises, destruction of their properties and the way the government of Edo has manhandled them. All we needed to do was encourage our people to come out to vote, especially in areas they never expected them to vote.”
The Labour Party, through its candidate Olumide Akpata, also alleged that both the APC and PDP were involved in vote-buying, an accusation which the APC denied.
Orobosa Omo-Ojo, Head of Publicity for the Edo APC campaign council, refuted the claims, stating that their success was due to grassroots campaigning and mobilization.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force confirmed the recovery of stolen BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) machines used in the election.
According to Deputy Inspector General of Police, Frank Mba, six suspects were arrested, and additional items, including weapons and 58 voter cards, were recovered. He assured that investigations were ongoing and more arrests were expected.
