The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday declared Mr Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the Edo State governorship election held on Wednesday.
According to INEC, Obaseki polled 319,483 to defeat his closest rival, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), who scored 253,173 votes.
The Returning Officer, Prof. Kayode Soremekum, who is also the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, declared Obaseki as winner, having scored the highest valid votes.
However, The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the results of the Edo governorship election held on Wednesday, ahead of the announcement of the outcome.
The party rejected the results in a press conference addressed by its Chairman in the state, Mr Dan Orbih,on Thursday in Benin.
The press conference was also attended the party’s governorship candidate in the election, Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Both the party and it’s candidate said they rejected the results because they were “fabricated and a pre-determined” by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Edo Government.
Orbih said that the results as they were being announced by the INEC, were at a complete variance with what the party got from it agents and independent observers.
He alleged that the two-week extension of the poll by the electoral body was to allow for more time to perfect the manipulation of the process.
“You will recall that our state Publicity Secretary had briefed the press less than 48 hours to the elections on what is playing out now.
“If you go by the results that were announced at the polling units and wards across the state, it shows that PDP would have won by over 30,000 votes.
“What INEC is announcing is clearly different from what we got from our agents and independent observers in the 192 wards and over 2,000 units across the state.
“We are rejecting these results as they were being announced by INEC and we are coming out early enough to make this known,”he said.
The chairman said the cancellation of some results on the basis of failed card reader was part of a deliberate plan to also manipulate the poll.
He alleged that the areas were results were canceled were stronghold of the PDP.
“I wonder what the Incident Form is for. Voters should not be made to suffer unduly for the inefficiency of card readers,” he said.
He said the results as were being announced by INEC, were clearly at variance with the widely acclaimed voter- turnout that was also acknowledged by the electoral umpire itself.
On his part, the governorship candidate said he aligned himself with the position of the party.
“The results are not a true reflection of what happened in the field. The INEC only played a script written by the Government of Edo,” he said.
Ize-Iyamu told reporters in Benin, the state capital: “The figures announced … do not represent the massive turnout. We have told our agents to bring all the results issued at the polling units.
“We do not want to rely on the messages they sent. In the next three or four days, we will have a complete record. From the findings, it is clear a lot of manipulation has taken place.”
Hundreds of PDP supporters earlier stormed the headquarters of the electoral commission to reject the poll’s outcome.
The PDP said the election was judgment time for APC President Muhammadu Buhari whose handling of the economy, now officially in recession after two consecutive dips in GDP, has elicited varied responses from Nigerians.
Soremukum said there were 1, 900, 223 registered voters, while 662,039 of the registered voters were accredited with 613, 244 voters casting their votes in the election.
He said 582, 299 of the votes cast were recorded as valid with 30, 945 as rejected votes, saying the total percentage turned out was 32.74.
“I, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, as the returning officer of the Edo governorship election held on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016, hereby states that election was contested in the state.
“Godwin Obaseki, having satisfied the requirements of the law, by scoring the highest number of votes, is hereby declared winner and is returned elected,” he said.
