The All Progressives Party (APC) in Edo State has alleged foul play in the September 19 governorship election, calling on party members to stay calm while party leaders study the result and decide what is next.
Chairman of the APC Media Campaign Council, Mr John Mayaki, said the party rejected the result, citing alleged strong-arm tactics.
“Our people were arbitrarily arrested, many of the figures were fabricated,” a statement issued on Sunday, shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Obaseki winner of the keenly contested poll.
The party further alleged illicit tampering with results, to shore up numbers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and mark down APC’s.
“Areas where we won, they cancelled them. They decreased the votes in areas we had an advantage,” the party further claimed. “They rejected our results and jerked up theirs.”
Stressing further, Mayaki claimed there was the arbitrary arrest of local party members who could have resisted the outrage, while Governor Obaseki was busy diverting attention with a false alarm.
“Obaseki shouted that he was being rigged out and blamed INEC at the initial stage but that was to divert attention from the evil going on in the field,” he said.
While calling on party members to stay calm, Mayaki said the APC leaders were studying the result and would announce their decision and course of action as soon as possible.
Obaseki polled 307,955 votes to defeat his closest rival APC’s Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who garnered 223,619 to win a second term as governor of Edo State.
INEC Returning Officer for the poll, Professor Akpofure Rem-Rukeh, declared the governor as the winner on Sunday at the office of the electoral umpire in Benin City, which doubled as the final collation centre.
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