PDP and its colour flags
By Ozioruva Aliu
BENIN CITY – HUNDREDS of members and supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday protested the outcome of the September 21st governorship election saying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was compromised and did not announce the results of the actual votes cast which the party claimed it won.
The protesters carried placards with various anti–INEC and President Bola Tinubu inscriptions.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Election Petition Tribunal said it was yet to receive any petition from any of the political parties contesting the outcome of the election.
The Secretary of the Tribunal, Mu’azu Bagudu Esq. told Vanguard on the phone that the petitioners have twenty days from the date the result of the election was announced to file their petitions.
The PDP protesters took over one lane of the Aduwawa Road opposite where the INEC office is situated and called on the Commission to announce the “actual” result of the election.
Addressing the crowd opposite the gate of the Commission’s office, the Director General of the Asue/Ogie Governorship Campaign Council, Hon Matthew Iduoriyekemwen said “INEC does not exist again, APC has destroyed INEC and we will not allow this to stand. Many of us fought for democracy in this country, I was one of the first beneficiaries of democratic office in 1999, we stood against the annulment of June 12, we fought the military when Abacha wanted to succeed himself, some people cannot claim to be democrats and they want to turn this country into a dictatorial state. We will not accept it, the Edo people voted and everybody who voted, knows who they voted for, we all voted for Asue Ighodalo, he is our governor. In a system where the REC of INEC here with one person writing results inside the office is not acceptable.”
He said even though they don’t have confidence in the judiciary, they would take their grievance to the election tribunal.
Also speaking, the state chairman of the PDP, Hon Tony Aziegbemi said the party had lost the election in a free and fair manner, and the party and the candidate would have congratulated the winner.
According to him, “The preliminary analysis we have done showed clearly that this election was won clean and clear by Asue Ighodalo, we will present that case to the tribunal, we believe the tribunal is made up of men of integrity, we believe they will look at those documents and come to the inevitable concussion that PDP won the election, we are going there with an open mind.”
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