The results that its polling agents across the state obtained and that Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, the head of the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, affirmed are what the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stands by. According to the results, Ighodalo was declared the winner.
After the most recent Edo State governorship election, Fintiri voiced grave concerns about the status of Nigerian democracy, characterizing it as yet another assault on the nation’s democratic system.
The Edo governorship election was declared won by Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
With 291,667 votes, Okpebholo—a senator currently serving—beat over the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Asue Ighodalo, who received 247,274 votes, to win the race. With 22,763 votes, Labour Party (LP) candidate Olumide Akpata finished a distant third.
The PDP campaign council chair, Fintiri, claimed that vote-buying, interference with the collation process, and dubious results tainted the poll.
The governor of Adamawa expressed his heartbreak at the way the election was conducted in a post on the social media platform X.
Fintiri remarked, “After seeing the abhorrent Edo gubernatorial poll, I cry for Nigeria’s democracy.”
Fintiri, along with PDP candidate Asue Ighodalo and Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, participated at a press conference prior to INEC revealing the final results.
Fintiri gave a briefing in which he stated the findings from a few Edo State local government areas as collated. Some political figures criticized his action, saying he was going too far and “usurping the powers” of the election commission.
In defense of his activities, Fintiri claimed he only provided information from INEC’s IREV platform, which provides real-time election results, rather than declaring any results.
“The true issue won’t be obscured by the APC’s pathetic attempts to undermine me by pretending I announced results. I just disseminated the findings from the IREV portal, which INEC compiled from the different Local Government Areas,” he stated.
Fintiri accused the APC of breaking electoral rules and criticized the party’s behavior on election day. He cited stories of APC governors intimidating voters with armored escorts and the national chairman of the party being in Edo State on election day in defiance of travel restrictions.
“The real brigandage is this blatant disregard for democratic norms,” Fintiri declared.
The governor of Adamawa also expressed worry over claims of vote-buying and anomalies in the collation process, which he believed compromised the election’s credibility. He cited claims of results that surpassed the number of voters who were officially registered in certain regions to accuse INEC of betraying its neutrality and favoring the APC.
Nigerians are furious and have blasted INEC for caving in to pressure and backing the APC. “Trust in our democracy is undermined by the reported vote-buying, disruption of the collation processes, and suspicious results with more votes than accredited voters,” he continued.
Fintiri urged Nigerians and the global community to demand accountability for the anomalies seen during the election and to denounce what he called “the rape of democracy.”
It is true that democracy is under siege. We have to demand accountability and denounce this assault on democracy. Nigeria deserves better, and the world is watching,” Fintiri said.
He also stated that PDP agents were prevented from entering collation centers throughout the poll, a move he said added to the electoral process’s flaws.
The PDP chapter in Edo State also objected to INEC compiling the results of the gubernatorial poll. The panel was accused of fabricating votes, inflating APC votes unfairly, and subtracting PDP votes.
“As Governor Fintiri presented, the results collated from the polling units have Asue Ighodalo in clear lead before the state collation exercise was hijacked by the APC, which in connivance with some unscrupulous INEC and security officials engaged in blatant alteration and substitution of the genuine results with fabricated figures in favor of the defeated APC candidate,” the PDP stated in a statement signed by Debo Ologunagba, national publicity secretary for the party.
According to the statement made public before to INEC’s official results announcement, PDP has warned Nigerians on multiple occasions about the APC’s and its candidate, Okpebholo,’s evil scheme.
The PDP strongly advises the APC and INEC not to release or proclaim any results that do not represent the will of the people as stated at the polling places, according to Ologunagba. The people of Edo State will never allow their mandate to go into the wrong hands, hence this will be a recipe for a major crisis in the state.
“Our party once more warns INEC not to lose sight of the violent protest that followed Mallam Hudu Ari, the former Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner,’s illegal attempt to rig the results of that state’s 2023 governorship election, which almost resulted in the deaths of several INEC employees.
“There will be greater repercussions from any attempt to rig the Edo State gubernatorial election results in order to give victory to a lost contender. For Nigeria’s democracy to continue and for peace and stability to prevail, INEC must thus act morally.
In a press conference, PDP state chairman Dr. Tony Aziegbemi made the accusation of vote-buying. He claimed that the reason he convened the conference was due to the way the party observed the election being conducted. Aziegbemi claimed that there were numerous anomalies in the procedure.
Aziegbemi added that there were significant differences in the initial reports from the electoral umpire in three local government areas, and he asked INEC to investigate the party’s concerns.
He claimed, for instance, that the Egor collation was held outside of the local government area, in violation of the election law’s mandate that all collations take place there.
Aziegbemi informed INEC that the entries submitted were entirely different from the official results as uploaded on the INEC IREV, erroneously boosting APC’s vote total and subtracting PDP’s vote total.
In particular, Aziegbemi stated that in the Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, the APC received 25,010 votes while the PDP received 34,847 votes based on a straightforward collation of all the votes registered in the polling unit results submitted on the IREV.
“It would interest you to know that in Ward 9 Akoko Edo LGA, the APC received 2,350 total votes from the 36 polling unit results uploaded on the IREV, while 9,104 votes were entered into the APC’s EC8B result.” he said. 633 of the 1,359 votes cast for the PDP were recorded in the EC8B.
Additionally, the results for the aforementioned polling units in Ward 6 Akoko Edo LGA’s Units 12, 17, 15, 18, 14, and 16 were returned on the Ward Result sheet (EC8B).”
The head of the Edo PDP asked INEC to hold off on releasing the official results until all of the observations had been fixed. He went on to say that Ighodalo of the PDP will win the election provided the proper actions were taken.
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