Osagie-Ize-iyamu
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Edo State has rejected the results of the governorship election held Wednesday in the state. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC had declared Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress, APC winner with 319,483 votes against 253, 173 votes won by his closest rival of the PDP, Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
The PDP in a statement by its publicity secretary said: “the details of the results released by INEC are all fake”. According to him, from results received from polling centres across the state the “PDP won the election fair and square, and with a very comfortable margin.” The party also mentioned some infractions said to have bee committed in the process of voting and collation of results, which according to its spokesman cast doubt on the credibility of the exercise.
Some of the cases being referred to by the protesting party also include areas where votes were cancelled; and so were not in the ballots factored into the final results.
However, with the protest, it will not be a surprise if the PDP decides to challenge the victory of Obaseki in court. That will not be a new phenomenon in Edo in particular , because of Adams Oshiomhole, the outgoing governor had to undertake a long drawn legal battle before he won back his mandate. But are the situations the same? The courts will determine in the days ahead.
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