The Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) on Sunday finally released the results of the election conducted in seven out of 14 local government areas in the state, showing the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) won in all the seven councils.
The local government areas were Orhiomnwon, Akoko-Edo, Igueben, Etsako East, Etsako Central, Esan South East and Egor.
Details of the results as released on Sunday showed that in Orhiomnwon council, the ACN candidate polled 29, 059 votes to defeat the PDP candidate who scored 5,843 votes, while the ACN candidate in Igueben council defeated the PDP candidate by 16,298 by 5,843.
Other results showed that ACN candidate in Egor council also polled 10,152 to defeat PDP’s candidate who polled 1,591, while the ACN candidate in Akoko-Edo also won by polling 41,486 to PDP’s 5,171.
However, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) in Edo State have rejected the election and the results, saying that Saturday’s exercise was not conducted in line with acceptable standards.
The state chairman of PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, who addressed a press conference in Benin, advised the “EDSIEC to take the path of honour by accepting failure and announce a date to conduct a new election.
He also got support from the national headquarters of the party who issued a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in Abuja on Sunday, which said, “The shoddy preparations and irregularities marking the conduct of the last Saturday’s local government elections in Edo State as yet another clear evidence that the opposition lacks the capacity to conduct credible elections and therefore cannot be trusted with power.”
The statement further said: “the Peoples Democratic Party is not surprised anyway. The opposition whether in the ACN or in the new metamorphosis of APC, like the leopard, cannot change its spots. This is a party that is used to imposition, a party without the least record of internal democracy, a party besotted to clique tyranny. How then can they conduct free and fair election?”
Also speaking, the deputy national chairman of the ANPP and the gubernatorial candidate of the party during the last governorship election in the state, Chief Solomon Edebiri, on behalf of Edo ANPP, said Sunday’s election was not properly conducted and the result unacceptable.
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