Opposition parties including the All Progressives Congress and the Labour Party have protested the outcome of the Edo local government polls.
The aggrieved parties described the dominant victory of the Peoples Democratic Party as a scam.
This came as the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission, yesterday, presented Certificates of Return to the newly elected 18 council chairmen amid condemnation and protest, according to the Sun.
Meanwhile, Governor Godwin Obaseki, said the performance showed PDP’s dominance, noting that the outcome of the election was a reflection of the wish of the majority of Edo people.
However, the National Chairman of LP, Julius Abure described the election as another sad testimony of how a state government can descend so low in attempting to rubbish the gains of democracy.
In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, Abure said democracy can only succeed when the authorities allow the votes of the people to count and the choice of the voters respected.
He called on the National Assembly to scrap state electoral commissions and entrust the conduct of local government elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission for proper management.
“State Independent Electoral Commission has become an embarrassment to democracy in Nigeria. It is, therefore, time to scrap them so as to restore sanity in our grassroots politics,” he said.
