The Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC), has declared the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the 18 local government chairmanship seats in the state.
Announcing the winners after the returning officers from the 18 LGAs announced the results of the elections, EDSIEC Chairman, Justice James Oyomere (rtd) said candidates of the PDP emerged victorious in all the 18 LGAs.
But in a swift reaction, the state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), David Imuse, described the exercise as a charade.
“This election is a scam, it is a charade. They brought insufficient ballot papers but no single result sheet. How can you conduct an election when there is no result sheet? ,” he queried.
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Also, the state chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has staged a massive protest over the outcome of the elections, with the three candidates of the Benin Municipal Councils – Egor, Ikpoba-Okha and Oredo – announcing their withdrawal from the elections.
Similarly, the National Chairman of LP, Barrister Julius Abure, has condemned the outcome of the election describing it as another “Sad testimony of how a state government can descend so low in attempting to rubbish the gains of democracy.
Abure in a statement yesterday signed by the LP National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said democracy can only succeed when the authorities allow the votes of the people to count, and the choice of the voters respected.
“Reports from our agents across most of the polling units in the state confirmed that there were deliberate efforts by the EDSIEC to frustrate voters by ensuring that the electoral officers either came late to the polling units or didn’t show up at all.
“In few places where the election held, insufficient ballot papers were brought with no single result sheet. But at the end of the day, results were churned out with the candidates of the PDP returning elected,” he said.
Reacting to the development, the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, said the emergence of PDP as winner of the polls showed the party’s dominance in the state, adding that the outcome of the election was a reflection of the wishes of the majority of Edo people.
