Mr. Kelly Ogbalo, the Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in Edo State, has voiced serious concerns about the electoral authorities’ management of the recent gubernatorial election, claiming that irregularities tainted the process. In an interview conducted in Benin, Ogbalo expressed his belief that his party would have claimed victory had the election been executed with fairness.
He highlighted that the election was marred by numerous irregularities, particularly open vote-buying, which he accused security agencies of neglecting to address. Ogbalo argued that the manipulation of election results alongside vote-buying strategies resulted in a distorted outcome, ultimately leading to the declaration of the APC candidate, Sen. Monday Okpebholo, as the winner.
Okpebholo garnered 291,667 votes, surpassing his nearest competitor, Asue Ighodalo from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 247,274 votes. The LP’s candidate, Mr. Olumide Akpata, finished with a mere 22,763 votes.
When asked whether the LP planned to contest the election results legally, Ogbalo mentioned that the party was still in the process of discussions and had not yet convened a state council meeting to reach a firm decision.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially declared Okpebholo the election winner on September 22. The allegations put forth by the LP have sparked significant concerns regarding the integrity of the electoral process and whether the results genuinely reflect the voters’ intentions.
