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Enioluwa Adeniyi
Guest
An official of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has revealed that numerous residents of Edo State are considering destroying their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in protest against the alleged manipulation of the 2024 governorship election results.
This statement follows the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the off-cycle governorship election held on September 21.
INEC announced that Okpebholo secured 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, PDP candidate, Asue Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes. The Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata finished third with 22,763 votes.
Since the election results were announced, both the PDP and Ighodalo have vocally rejected the outcome, claiming widespread electoral malpractice.
In an interview with Premium Times on Wednesday night, Tony Iyoha, the PDP State Collation agent, expressed concern over the backlash from the electorate.
He stated that many residents are threatening to destroy their PVCs as a form of protest against what they perceive as a rigged election favouring the APC.
“I have travelled across the state since the results were declared. A lot of people are threatening to destroy their voters’ cards.
“This means that they won’t vote any more. They saw it (electoral malpractice) in 2023. This is 2024,” Mr Iyoha said.
The PDP agent said the Edo people were not celebrating the election outcome because INEC “declared as winner who they did not vote for.”
“The people are not celebrating (the outcome of the election). If you win a prize, people are expected to celebrate.
“It is only those that are going to benefit directly – like the party people – that are celebrating inside their houses. They cannot come out to celebrate because they know they didn’t win,” he said.
On Wednesday, several PDP supporters, led by some party leaders, protested peacefully at the INEC office in Benin, the state capital.
When asked if the protesters wanted the electoral body to reverse itself on the election results already declared, Mr Iyoha said the supporters only wanted to vent their anger.
He said, “You don’t beat a child and expect the child not to cry. So, people are only venting their anger. They were protesting to let out their feelings about the result of the exercise.
“They have the right to protest under the Nigerian Constitution. Whether INEC decides to do the right thing or not, I don’t know. I think the next thing is the judicial process. We are going to court to challenge the result.”
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