Peoples Democratic Party candidate for the just concluded Edo governorship election, Asue Ighodalo, has declared that he would go to tribunal to reclaim his “stolen mandate”.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Ighodalo expressed confidence in the judicial process.
He said, “There is a lot of data, information, evidence that we have. We are fully confident that going through the tribunal, we will win the case.
“We will regain our mandate and we are clear without any doubt that we were the winners of the election last Saturday.”
Ighodalo finished second with 247,274 votes in the recently concluded election, while Olumide Akpata, candidate of the Labour Party finished third with 22,763 votes. APC candidate Okpebholo was declared winner of the September 21 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission after receiving 291,667 votes.
Ighodalo alleged irregularities in the electoral process, stating, “We didn’t rig. When APC and INEC saw that APC was losing woefully, they then subverted the electoral laws and the guidelines.”
He criticized the failure to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System in over 160 polling places and the irregular collation process.
“Collation is done at the polling units, and then you go to the ward, and then the local government collation centre, and then the state. There was a jump, from ward straight to the state,” he explained.
Ighodalo accused INEC and the police of colluding to suppress the will of the Edo people. He said, “There was a collusion between the INEC and the police to suppress the will of the people of Edo state. People of Edo state purposely voted for us. We won the election clearly.”
He expressed disappointment and concern for the young people who felt disenfranchised, saying, “It is painful because you have many young people who felt that they were disenfranchised in the past; they feel that their votes were not counted and they asked what kind of democracy we run.”
Ighodalo emphasized the PDP’s commitment to issue-based campaigns and rejection of vote-buying.
Ighodalo stated, “I can state categorically, we were not involved in vote buying at all. APC agents came with minted notes straight from the CBN and they were offering N25,000, N30,000 and N50,000 per vote.”
He added, “What our guys did was to go to them and harass them and tell them that you can’t come here to buy votes. But we were not engaged in vote buying in any way. I’m clear about that.”
Ighodalo attributed APC’s actions to desperation. He said, “We didn’t even need to go and buy votes. The people of Edo state were solidly with us. It’s only when you’re not sure of your capabilities… when you cannot perform, that’s when you do underhand things.”
He criticized APC and INEC for undermining the democratic process, saying, “And APC, through this election, with the connivance, complicity and support of INEC, undermined the whole democratic process.”
Regarding Okpebholo’s offer of friendship, Ighodalo stated, “Because the mandate is stolen, there is no way you can accept these hands of fellowship or friendship.” Instead, he pledged to stay with the people of Edo state and reclaim the mandate through the courts.
“I will stay with the people of Edo state, who fully gave me the mandate of their free will, and I will go into the courts and the tribunal to reclaim our mandate and then form the government,” he concluded.
Ighodalo remains optimistic about winning the case and upholding the people’s mandate.
