Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Edo State, has raised serious concerns over the ongoing election, warning that it could be remembered as the worst election in Nigeria’s history due to numerous alleged irregularities.
Ighodalo made this claim during a live press conference on Sunday, organized by the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, which was led by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.
The event, also attended by Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, focused on allegations of manipulation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“The way this election is going, it is set to be the worst election in the history of this country,” Ighodalo stated.
He detailed several instances of electoral infractions across multiple polling units, questioning the credibility of the results being announced.
One of the major infractions he cited involved polling units in Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, where accredited voters were recorded as zero, yet results were announced.
“In Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, the figure for accredited voters was NIL, but the results claimed the APC had 227 votes, while the PDP had 103. How is that even possible?” Ighodalo asked.
He went on to highlight similar issues in other polling units within the same area.
“In another unit in Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, the number of accredited voters was recorded as 156, but the APC was declared to have won 2,110 votes, while the PDP received just 57 votes, and no votes were recorded for the Labour Party.”
Ighodalo further revealed that more than 20 polling units across the state were affected by these discrepancies, describing the situation as a “result-writing scheme” aimed at disenfranchising PDP agents and rigging the election in favor of the APC.
Governor Fintiri echoed these concerns, adding that PDP agents had been denied access to collation centers, raising further questions about the transparency of the process.
Fintiri called on INEC to follow its own rules and ensure that the collation of results was conducted fairly and transparently.
“What we’re asking from INEC is to follow there rules, REC has no business to announce results or move collation to INEC headquarters. This is our stand and we will go back to consult.” Says Fintiri