We Were Already Celebrating Before Our Mandate Was Stolen — PDP

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The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State has revealed what happened to the party at the recently concluded Edo governorship election.

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The party said its members were already celebrating their victory in the last Saturday governorship election before its mandate was allegedly stolen.

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The deputy director general of the Asue-Ogie Governorship Campaign Council, Olu Martins made the statement at a press conference on Wednesday in Benin City.

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Martins said with the release of 95 per cent results of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the party was already leading with over 45, 000 votes.

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“We were already jubilating because by the time the result of the election got to 95 per cent, you know where you have won or not and even if the remaining five per cent voted for APC, we would have won the election with over 45,000 votes.

“But when we got to the collation centre, things changed as the police said they were on a mission and that whoever can’t stomach it should leave,” he said.

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Martins, however, opined that the electoral contest was not between the All Progressives Congress, APC, but between the Nigeria Police and INEC.

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He noted that, as a result of the alleged stolen mandate, APC is not celebrating their “illegal mandate.”

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He also added that the party cannot congratulate the governor-elect, Senator Monday Okpebholo, because the election was not free and fair, alleging that it was the worst election INEC has ever conducted in Nigeria.

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“For us, despite what INEC announced, the governorship election contest was not between the PDP and the APC, who has now been announced as the winner.

“But the contestation is between the PDP and the police and INEC; the two of them collude together to rape democracy and declare who they have declared the winner.

“How do you explain that the whole world followed the result on the IREV and saw the result and if they wanted it to end that way, they wouldn’t have introduced the IReV.

“The form EC8 is the most important document in this election because it is the form where the election that took place in over 4000 polling units was imputed and any other form is from the collation centre and what you saw in IReV were results from polling units.

“By 9 pm on Saturday, 95 per cent of the results of over 4000 units were already posted on the IReV and once it is posted, you can begin your calculation and that was what we did in our situation room.

“When the APC saw that they were losing, they moved to Plan B and my problem is not with the APC or whoever it is that wants to take advantage of the porous system.

“But my problem is that it is impossible to rig an election or subvert the will of the people without the active connivance of the INEC, who is the umpire of the election and the security agents,”he alleged.

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He also explained that the party’s does not have any problem with security agencies, not until at the collation centre, where policemen allegedly pointed guns at the party’s agents and ordered them not to enter the collation while allowing the agent of the APC to move into the collation centre.

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He said the incident happened in Ikpoba Okha, Egor and Oredo local governments.

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“Our director general was denied entry into INEC office but the APC were roaming and dictating how they wanted the election to go. It seems that the president wants a one-party state. The APC captured the INEC and the police.

“We hold the president responsible for the sham that happened in Edo because he said he would give Edo back to APC and he backed it with I am the president and commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The police did what they have done in the defence of the president’s statement.

“Many people have said that we should call and congratulate the winner but we will not do that because the election was not free and fair and observers who came to monitor the situation also have this opinion,” he added.

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He, however, assured supporters that the party is studying the results to take legal action.

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“We know where the Egor and Oredo results were written and the gap between the APC and the PDP is not much and when you do the deductions from the result from EC8, the people voted for Asue Ighodalo.

“The INEC must tell us the result of this election and we want our people to calm down. We are studying the situation and in a few days our leadership will tell us the line of action,”he added.