The Edo State gubernatorial election has been marred by controversy. Mathew Iduoriyekeme, the Director-General of the PDP Campaign Council in Edo State, has made alarming claims about the election process.
According to Iduoriyekeme In an interview FROM 4:15, an Assistant Inspector General of Police arrived at the collation center in Ikpoboa Local Government Area and ordered the movement of collation officers to the INEC Headquarters . This move was reportedly replicated in Oredo and Igor, areas where Asue Ighodalo, the PDP candidate, had secured over 80% of the votes.
Iduoriyekeme claims that when questions were raised about this move, the police responded with teargas, causing panic and bundling of the collation officer and others to the INEC Headquarters ². He also alleges that his local government agent for the PDP was barred from entering the collation center ². Furthermore, Iduoriyekeme claims that the REC and one Mrs. Hanna Aderibigbe were rewriting results within the INEC Headquarters, leading him to alert the state governor.
It is important to note that these claims have not been independently verified, and the situation remains unclear. However, the PDP has raised concerns about electoral malpractices and arrests of its members during the lead-up to the election. Protests have also occurred at the collation center. The APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, was declared the winner of the election by INEC, but the PDP has disputed this outcome.
“I’m from ikpoba okha. At about 7pm on that day, An Assistant Inspector General Police came to the collation, asked us to move to INEC Headquarters from the Local Government collation centre. They were doing that in Ikpoboa, they were doing that in Oredo, that were doing that in Igor. Those were the areas Asue Ighodalo won by well over 80% of the total votes casts and that is the most populated part of the state because that’s the urban parts of Edo State”
“Now, when people were asking why, the next thing the police did was to shoot teargas at the people and in that panic, they bundled both the collation officer and everybody to the INEC Headquarters. I went to the INEC Headquarters, the kind of security I saw in the INEC Headquarters, with the police, different tactical teams, the red beret, the blue beret, the black beret. All the berets that is possible to see in Police Force were there with Armoured personnel carrier and we were restricted from going there.”
“I raised alarm because My own Local Government agent of the PDP was not allowed access inside the collation centre. Then I found out that it was the REC who was now writing new results and one Mrs Hanna Aderibigbe or so, who is from INEC Headquarters. They were rewriting the results inside INEC Headquarters and that made me cry out to the Governor of the State and the Governor came and the REC went into his office, locked himself up and started making calls, bringing in the security operatives”