The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has officially filed a petition to contest the outcome of the September 21, 2024 governorship election. This was confirmed by the party’s State Chairman, Tony Aziegbemi, during a press conference in Benin on Monday.
Aziegbemi expressed that despite various obstacles, the PDP successfully met the deadline to file its appeal, submitting the petition on Saturday.
The election saw the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo, declared the winner with 291,667 votes. He triumphed over PDP’s Asue Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes, while other contestants, including Olumide Akpata from the Labour Party, trailed behind.
Following the announcement of the results, the PDP voiced strong objections, accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC of conspiring to frustrate their efforts to seek justice. They pointed to alleged irregularities in the electoral process, which they believe led to a distorted result.
Tony Aziegbemi reassured PDP members and supporters that the party is committed to recovering what he referred to as their “stolen mandate.”
“We have filed our petition before the election petitions tribunal on your behalf. I assure you that the journey to reclaim our mandate has begun and, by the grace of God, your mandate will be retrieved.
“Despite INEC’s (being the political wing of the APC) attempt to deny us full complements of our request for CTC of all electoral materials, we were still able to do the needful.”
Aziegbemi also denied that the PDP disrupted the inspection of electoral materials at the INEC office.
He added, “How did PDP disrupt the inspection of materials at the INEC office? In whose interest is the disruption? We applied to the court for inspection, the court granted us an enrolled order to inspect. Why would we want to disrupt the process?”
In response to the petition, the APC, through its Publicity Secretary, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie, mocked the PDP’s claims, asserting that there was no existing mandate for the PDP to reclaim.
Uwadiae-Igbinigie dismissed the accusations, stating, “The PDP does not have any existing mandate that was stolen. Is it not an existing mandate that they steal?
“It is the Independent National Electoral Commission that conducts and announces the winner of an election in the country. It is the same INEC that announced the APC as the winner of the September 21 governorship election in the state.
“When did they get the mandate that was stolen? Where did the get the votes that gave them the mandate they are talking about?
“They need to keep quiet now because the case is sub judice. They have gone to court. They cannot be a party in a case and be giving judgement in their matter.
“They should let the tribunal do its jobs, to say who won and who did not. We will meet them headlong in court.”
