The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Edo State governorship election, Asue Ighodalo, has voiced serious concerns over alleged irregularities in the voting process, describing the election as potentially “the worst in Nigeria’s history.”
He raised these concerns during a press conference held at the PDP Situation Room in Benin City on Sunday.
Speaking on the legitimacy of the election, Ighodalo warned that the issues surrounding the voting and collation processes could have severe implications for Nigeria’s democracy.
“From our perspective, the way these elections are going, they’re probably going to be the worst elections in the history of this country,” Ighodalo stated.
One of the major points of contention for Ighodalo was the exclusion of PDP agents from the Collation Centre, which he described as a deliberate move to undermine the democratic process.
“We have information, for instance, where we have over 20 polling units where the accredited voters are less than the total votes, which is not possible,” he said, citing this as one of several irregularities.
He further added, “We have over 20 polling units from the results that were announced yesterday where the total votes announced are more than the accredited voters.”
The PDP candidate called the situation “totally unacceptable,” noting that it pointed to a larger issue of vote manipulation.
“There’s something definitely going wrong. There’s a result writing scheme going on, and it’s totally unacceptable,” Ighodalo remarked.
He went on to describe the involvement of thugs allegedly supported by people dressed as security agents, who, according to him, disrupted the voting process at several polling units.
“At every point, you find APC and their thugs, supported by people dressed as security agents, going to shoot at polling agents and disrupt processes,” Ighodalo explained.
Condemning the actions, he added, “This is not acceptable in the 21st century. Definitely not in Nigeria. I think we’ve gone way past this.”
Ighodalo’s strong criticisms of the election process come amid mounting concerns from the PDP about the legitimacy of the results, raising questions about transparency and fairness in the conduct of the election.
He urged authorities to investigate the alleged irregularities and ensure that the democratic process is upheld.
