The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced its results for Saturday's governorship election in Edo State, amidst allegations of irregularities and tampering.
The people of Edo made their choice at the poll on Saturday, September 21, 2014, to elect a candidate who will succeed Governor Godwin Obaseki, whose tenure expires on November 12, 2024. However, the residents are tense as the outcome is unknown.
The election has been very contentious with the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) being the major contenders. PDP has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Benin, of colluding with the APC to rig the process.
PDP candidate Asue Ighodalo had earlier raised concerns about results from over 20 polling units being tampered with, while reports emerged of PDP agents being denied access to collation centres.
Addressing the press on Sunday, Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, Chairman of the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, claimed the party had collated results from 12 out of 18 local government areas before the process was disrupted.
According to Fintiri, the PDP's unofficial tally showed Ighodalo leading with 143,100 votes, ahead of APC candidate Senator Monday Okpebholo's 136,777 votes.
The announced results from the 12 local governments are as follows:
Esan Central LG: APC 8,618, PDP 10,990
Esan North-East LG: APC 10,648, PDP 12,522
Esan South-East LG: APC 8,398, PDP 14,199
Esan West LG: APC 12,952, PDP 11,004
Igueben LG: APC 5,407, PDP 8,470
Etsako Central LG: APC 10,990, PDP 8,618
Orhionmwon LG: APC 16,059, PDP 16,614
Ovia North-East LG: APC 13,225, PDP 15,311
Ovia South-West LG – APC-10,150, PDP-10,260
Owan West LG – APC-12,277, PDP-11,284
Owan East LG – APC-19,380, PDP-14,189
Uhunmwonde LG – APC-8,673, PDP-9,639
Governor Ahmadu Fintiri clarified that his earlier statement was not an announcement of official election results but a sharing of preliminary figures collected from party agents in various polling units and local governments.
Fintiri emphasized that he was not overstepping his bounds or usurping the authority of the INEC, which is solely responsible for announcing official election results.
Instead, he accused INEC of violating the Electoral Act by disrupting the collation process.
“I did not announce results, I only informed the public on the exact figure from our collation agents that was ongoing before INEC disrupted the process… INEC should be accused of violating the Electoral Act, not me,” Fintiri said.
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