by Nurat Uthman
Some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State on Wednesday staged a protest at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benin City, the state capital.
The party supporters, who wielded placards and PDP insignia, called on the electoral umpire to reverse the results of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in the state announced a day after the poll.
The protesters insisted that PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, won the election; and not Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
They accused INEC of manipulating the results of the election in favour of the APC whose candidate was declared the governor-elect of the state.
INEC had declared Okpebholo the winner of the poll. The APC candidate, 54, secured 291,667 votes to defeat Ighodalo who got 247,274 votes and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) who came a distant third in the race with 22,763 votes. Fourteen other candidates contested the seat but got less than the three frontline candidates.
But Ighodalo and Akpata faulted the election, alleging vote buying by the APC, an allegation the winning party has denied.
Ighodalo has vowed to challenge the outcome of the poll.
