Three weeks after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Senator Monday Okpebholo as the Governor-Elect of Edo State, a pro-democracy organization has called on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, to accept the results of the governorship election.
Patrick Osaigbovo, the Executive Director of the Initiative for Democratic Advancement and Free Speech, made this appeal in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday. This appeal comes in the wake of protests from Ighodalo’s supporters, who recently stormed the INEC office in Benin City, claiming the PDP candidate was denied his rightful mandate. Protesters carried placards with messages such as “Dr. Asue Ighodalo, Governor-Elect we know” and “Edo PDP won the election, but INEC and police colluded to change it,” expressing their discontent with the outcome of the September 21 elections.
In the election results, Okpebholo secured 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes, thereby placing second. Osaigbovo criticized the PDP for what he described as an aggressive campaign against state institutions following their electoral loss, claiming it was a continuation of their pre-election strategy that relied on propaganda to intimidate these institutions and mislead the electorate.
He stated, “Such onslaughts are a carryover of its pre-election strategy of using crass propaganda to attempt to intimidate state institutions and pull a wool over the faces of the electorate.” Osaigbovo also emphasized that the PDP’s actions leading up to the election eroded public trust, arguing that they began announcing their own results from their so-called ‘Situation Room’ as early as 10 a.m. on election day, even before all voters had cast their ballots. This, he contended, was an attempt to create a narrative that could lead to post-election violence.
Osaigbovo further clarified that, according to INEC guidelines, results should be uploaded to the Results Viewing Portal (iREV) after all voting is completed. He noted, “The PDP ought to have understood by now that election observer groups are not the same as election monitors. Nigeria has only one election monitor – INEC. Observer groups are meant to observe. They have no locus to reject any results as declared by INEC.”
In response, Olu Martins, the Deputy Director-General of Media in the PDP Campaign Council, dismissed Osaigbovo’s plea. He refuted allegations that the PDP was sponsoring certain election observers, calling them unfounded. “The allegations are baseless. The election observers are not new guys in the system. They have been observing election processes,” he said. Martins emphasized the need for improvements in the electoral system, noting that many observers concluded that the processes at polling units were free and fair.