…as PDP, Ize-Iyamu rejected governorship election results
Some aggrieved persons from Esan West and Esan East Local Government Areas of Edo State are currently protesting at outside the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s office in Benin, the state capital
INEC’s Benin office is the venue for the collation of yesterday’s governorship election that held in the state.
The aggrieved voters are protesting the manner which the election was conducted in their area, insisting that the electoral umpire should stop the announcement of results from the area.
It is happening at a time the electoral umpire is announcing results collated from the various local government areas in the state.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it’s candidate, Ize-Iyamu have rejected the results of the Edo governorship election held on Wednesday, ahead of the announcement of the outcome.
The party had warned INEC that it would not accept any result different from what was announced at the various polling units in the state.
The PDP rejected the results in a press conference addressed by its Chairman in the state, Mr Dan Orbih, on Thursday in Benin.
The press conference was also attended the party’s governorship candidate in the election, Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Both the party and it’s candidate said they rejected the results because they were “fabricated and a pre-determined” by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Edo Government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC was announcing the results of the poll as at the time of filing this report.
Orbih said that the results as they were being announced by the INEC, were at a complete variance with what the party got from it agents and independent observers.
He alleged that the two-week extension of the poll by the electoral body was to allow for more time to perfect the manipulation of the process.
“You will recall that our state Publicity Secretary had briefed the press less than 48 hours to the elections on what is playing out now.
“If you go by the results that were announced at the polling units and wards across the state, it shows that PDP would have won by over 30,000 votes.
“What INEC is announcing is clearly different from what we got from our agents and independent observers in the 192 wards and over 2,000 units across the state.
“We are rejecting these results as they were being announced by INEC and we are coming out early enough to make this known,” he said.
The chairman said the cancellation of some results on the basis of failed card reader was part of a deliberate plan to also manipulate the poll.
He alleged that the areas where results were canceled were strongholds of the PDP.
“I wonder what the Incident Form is for. Voters should not be made to suffer unduly for the inefficiency of card readers,” he said.
He said the results as were being announced by INEC, were clearly at variance with the widely acclaimed voter- turnout that was also acknowledged by the electoral umpire itself.
On his part, the governorship candidate said he aligned himself with the position of the party.
“The results are not a true reflection of what happened in the field. The INEC only played a script written by the Government of Edo,” he said.
NAN
