BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

THE Justice Research Center  has hailed the conduct of the July 14, 2012 governorship election in Edo State, describing the out come of the election as a solid reflection of the will of the people of the state.

In a statement on the re-election of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the organisation said the outcome of the election had helped in the process of institutionalising the sanctity of the electoral ballot in Nigeria.

The statement signed by the chairman of the Centre, Mr. Inwalomhe Donald, noted that “unlike in Nigeria ’s previous elections, particularly the pre-2011 elections where dead voters and votes held sway, the Edo State election voters and votes were not robotically created.

“Oshiomhole polled 477, 488 votes to win second term , the Edo election is demographically and scientifically incontestable. It also passed the litmus test of common sense.”

The statement however regretted the  “refusal of the losers of the election to accept defeat even when the facts were clear and credible, describing it as unhealthy for the democratic process.

“Today, for reasons of parochial and material interests, defeated politicians, their slaves and others have refused to adopt the natural and universal best parameters for determining credible polls and their results,” it stated.