Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, and his party have rejected the results of Wednesday’s governorship election, declaring that the results as announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) was at variance with what was collated by party agents and independent observers.
Ize-Iyamu was joined in rejecting the results of the election by the Edo State chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih, who pointed out that the results issued by INEC’s Presiding Officers at the polling units showed that the PDP was clearly ahead of the APC with a minimum of 30,000 votes.
Providing details of alleged irregularities that took place on Wednesday, Ize-Iyamu, at a media briefing in Benin, said a plan was orchestrated to not only ensure that the PDP lost the election, but to deny the PDP of proofs to back its claims.
He said before the earlier election fixed for September 10 was postponed, serial numbers of result sheets were released to parties on September 8, adding that information was used to write fake results.
Ize-Iyamu also alleged that between N3 billion to N4 billion was spent by the Edo State government to induce voters in the presence of security agents on the election day, adding that the INEC, security agents and the APC have taken Nigeria democratic development backward.
He said: “The delay in announcing the official result by INEC was clearly predetermined and designed to announce fabricated results that are completely at variance with what happened at the units.
“To show that the results were predetermined, if you look at the result, it does not even reflect the huge turnout they (APC) even attested to. Even their national chairman commended the huge turnout.
“The result was written without taking into cognizance the huge turnout. We have told our agents to bring out their results; we don’t want to rely on the messages sent to us. In the next three or four days, we shall have the complete record of the results. I can, however, tell you that from our findings, a lot of manipulation a took place.
“At Ward 2 in George Idah Primary School when the collation was ongoing, it is on record that one Osakpamwan Eriyo forcefully entered the place and went away with INEC materials including results collated from the wards.
“He was not declared wanted and nobody has arrested him. In Ologbo Ward 10 in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area, a lot of materials were carted away by the APC thugs. INEC was aware of this and we were told that the results were collated and accepted.
“Similar things happened in Orhionmwon to the extent that our agent, Lady Uwa Osunbor, was placed under house arrest simply because she protested against what was happening. The DPO said he was holding her on the directive of the INEC.
“In Etsako Central and Opoji, all the materials were seized by people wearing army and SSS uniforms. We spoke against it but the results were taken at the end of the day.
“In Etsako East, the army fired shots to drive people away so that they could take the results sheets away. So, one wonders the results that were announced. The result they got was obtained through fraud and the use of arms and cohesion and we are not party to it.
In his remark, the state PDP chairman, Dan Orbih, noted that in areas where the PDP was declared winner, the party’s votes were removed on the excuse of malfunctioned card readers, recalling that the party through its state publicity secretary, Chris Nehikhare, on Tuesday had alerted a plot conjured between the INEC and some stakeholders to rig the election.