Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday protested the outcome of the September 21 governorship election in Edo State at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Benin City.
The protesters were led by the PDP Chairman in the state, Dr. Anthony Aziegbemi.
Also at the rally were the Director-General of the PDP Campaign Council, Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, and the Deputy Director General (Media and Publicity), Rev. Olu Martins, among others.
The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions, demanding that INEC return the “stolen mandate” by declaring the PDP candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo as the authentic winner of the election.
The protest caused major disruptions to vehicular movement for several hours along the Ramat Park axis of the busy Auchi-Benin expressway.
Aziegbemi, who addressed the protesters, said the protest was to inform the world that the PDP had won the election whose results were altered.
He urged INEC to declare Ighodalo as the rightful winner of the election.
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The chairman said: “We thank everyone for joining this journey to reclaim our stolen mandate, which was subverted by both the police and INEC.
“If we had lost in a free and fair contest, we would have congratulated them, but they stole our mandate. Therefore, we cannot congratulate them.”
He reassured supporters that the PDP would reclaim the mandate and urged them to remain patient while the judiciary reviews the case and delivers a fair judgment.
“This is Nigeria; we will not allow our victory to be stolen. We are confident that the overwhelming evidence we will present will help recover our mandate,” Aziegbemi added.
INEC on September 22 declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the election.
He polled 291,667 votes to edge out Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes in the exercise.
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