The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to commence collation of results in the Edo governorship election, which took place on Saturday across the state.
Meanwhile, some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stage a protest outside the collation centre in Benin City, over alleged attempts to manipulate the outcome of the Edo governorship election.
It was reported that police used teargas canisters on the protesters around 2:45am on Sunday, and chased them off the premises of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Matthew Iduoriyekenwe, a PDP chieftain and Director-General of the Ighodalo/Ogie Campaign Council, said some INEC officials conducted the election without the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).
“In my local government, people were thumb-printing by bypassing BVAS. Why would INEC give us BVAS as means to accredit voters and INEC is bypassing it? If they know there was no need for an election, they didn’t need to waste our time,” he said.
Iduoriyekenwe also alleged that some chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and a serving senator from Edo, are trying to manipulate the election for Monday Okpebholo, governorship candidate of their party.
Asue Ighodalo, governorship candidate of the PDP, was also at the INEC headquarters in the wee hours of Sunday, while reiterating allegations that police officers have been complicit in attempts to tamper with election processes.
In a statement issued at midnight on Saturday, Tony Aziegbemi, chairman of the PDP in Edo, alleged that the APC was working with thugs and “unscrupulous policemen to disrupt the collation of results”.
“We have learnt that the APC is mobilizing thugs to disrupt the collation process. They are piling pressure on the military to withdraw from the collation centres to achieve their devious plans,” he said.
