The members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, on Wednesday, marched to the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Benin to protest against the outcome of the September 21 governorship election in the state.
INEC declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Monday Okpebholo, winner of the election.
The electoral body said Okpebholo polled 291,667 to defeat the PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, who polled 247,274 votes.
But the PDP has since rejected the poll results, which it alleged were manipulated.
On Wednesday, PDP members and leaders took to the streets of Benin bearing banners with inscriptions such as “INEC sack Edo REC”; “INEC give us our mandate,” among others.
Some of them were heard chanting:“Oshiomhole, Tinubu give us our mandate.”
However, security agencies were on guard to ensure the protesters did not get too close to INEC office at Aduwawa, Benin.
But the Publicity Secretary of the Edo APC, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie,in an interview with our correspondent, mocked the PDP, saying no amount of protest could change the outcome of the poll.
“The PDP can protest as much as they want but that cannot change the result of the election. They can only approach the tribunal with evidence if they think their mandate has been taken from them.
“Edo people, who do not want the continuation of a PDP government passed a referendum with their voter cards and gave the APC the mandate to govern the state as from November 12.
“It is not about calling on President Bola Tinubu and Senator Adams Oshiomhole to give their mandate back to them. The gentlemen have nothing to do with their mandate. They can approach the tribunal to ventilate their grievances,” Uwadiae-Igbinigie.
Monday’s protest by the PDP was led by the Cchairman of the Edo State chapter of the party, Tony Aziegbemi; the Director General of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Management Council, Mathew Iduoriyekewen; and the Deputy Director General (Media and Publicity), Olu Martins.
Addressing the protesters, Aziegbemi called on INEC to declare Ighodalo the winner of the election, alleging that INEC manipulated the results of some of the local government areas.
He said: “We thank you all for coming out today on a journey to reclaim the mandate taken away from us.
If we had lost this election in a free and fair contest, we would have congratulated them but, because they stole our mandate, we can’t congratulate them.
“Go and sleep, as we are going to reclaim the mandate stolen from us. We are calling on the judiciary to look at our submission and be truthful in their judgement. This is Nigeria and we can’t be robbed of our victory as we are sure of reclaiming our stolen mandate as we will present overwhelming evidence.
“We are sure that we will recover our mandate as the preliminary analysis we have done shows that this election was won clearly by Ighodalo. We will present the case to the tribunal.
“We believe that the tribunal is made up of men and women of integrity; they will look at the evidence before them and conclude that PDP won the election. We are going to the tribunal with an open mind.
“PDP is a very peaceful party, as it always preaches peace, and all along our protest, it has been violence-free and it will continue to be so.”
Speaking in the same vein, Iduoriyekewen said the PDP won the election and would continue the protest until the mandate is given Ighodalo.
Reacting, the state publicity secretary of the APC, Peter Uwadiae-Igbinigie, said no amount of protest would change the result of the election, urging the PDP to approach the tribunal if they have convincing evidence.
