Obi rejects Akpata’s 22,763 votes, describes Edo election as ‘state capture’

Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in last year’s elections, Peter Obi, has described last Saturday’s Edo State off-cycle governorship election as ‘state capture’.

Obi, who played leading role in the campaign for the LP’s candidate, Olumide Akpata, said this in a post on his X handle, on Monday.

Daily Trust reports that Akpata lost his polling unit (PU), ward and local government and only managed to garner 22,763 votes.

Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He polled 291,667 votes as announced by the returning officer, Prof. Faruk Adamu Kuta, against his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 247,274 votes.

• Edo guber marred by over-voting, low turnout -CDD
• Why we Lost Edo Election – Labour Party

Obi, however said what happened in the Edo election did not in any way represent the democratic process Nigerians chose as a method of electing its political leadership.

“Instead, it was a blatant example of ‘state capture’ and continued gross undermining of our democratic process and values. Any nation whose leadership recruitment process is so fatally flawed is doomed, and we are all seeing the effect in our country.

“I urge those in authority not to allow this situation to stand, or depend on it to remain in power,” Obi said.

He said Nigeria had invested significantly in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV), and must be allowed to function and used properly in order to free the electoral process from the “massive falsification that has plagued it and worsening”.

“To the agencies and individuals being used to undermine our democracy simply because they hold positions of authority, please remember that your time in office is not eternal. The society that you are helping to destroy today will eventually take her revenge on you tomorrow.

“To the lecturers and others complicit in perpetuating this charade, you must reflect deeply on the roles you are playing in damaging the very foundation of our democracy. The damage you are causing today will inevitably take revenge on you tomorrow and affect your children in the future,” Obi said.