Less than 24 hours after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner of Edo State governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has vowed go to court to retrieve its “stolen mandate.”
The position of PDP came on a day one of the civil society groups that monitored the election, Yiaga Africa, said the election failed integrity test, just as the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, asked INEC to review its IReV uploads amid discrepancies.
PDP acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagum, announced the party’s position at a briefing in Abuja, charging Edo people “to remain resolute and undeterred as our party takes sure and firm steps to retrieve the mandate with every means legal and available in a democracy.”
The PDP stance came as Labour Party, LP, candidate, Mr. Olumide Akpata, who dismissed Saturday’s poll as a transaction and democratic sacrilege by the APC and PDP, said he has submitted the results to lawyers for forensic analysis, which would inform his next step.
INEC had on Sunday night, returned Okpebholo as governor-elect after polling 291,667 votes, against Dr Asue Ighodalo of the PDP’s 247,566 votes and Akpata’s 22,763 votes.
On a day Okpebholo got tons of greetings on his victory from the Federal Executive Council, FEC; governors and some stakeholders, the PDP said it would once again test “the level of the preparedness of the judiciary to do justice where it is required.”
Similarly, the presidential candidate of LP in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi, said what transpired in Edo was state capture, not election, with Yiaga Africa saying the exercise failed integrity test.
Also, the Centre for Democracy and Development West Africa, CDD, urged INEC to review uploads on its Result Viewing Portal, IreV, due to discrepancies in the governorship election results.
The advice came on the heels of observers reporting issues such as blurred results, over-voting, and upload discrepancies, especially in Ovia North-East, Esan West, Ikpoba/Okha, Orhionmwon and Uhunmwonde local government areas.
Damagum, who said the PDP expected the judiciary to ensure justice in the matter, said: “We cannot overrule a situation where 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 when the judicial system does not work, then you don’t have a country. I don’t know if we will still have a country.”