Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC), led by Justice James Oyomire (rtd.), has released the results of Saturday’s local government election, with candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning all the 18 chairmanship seats.
EDSIEC’s spokesman, Albert Eguaoje, said this yesterday in Benin.
Seven political parties registered to participate in the election, but Action Alliance (AA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Accord (A) and African Democratic Congress (ADC), later collapsed their structures for PDP.
The three political parties that participated in the election were PDP, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Labour Party (LP).
Edo Chairman of APC, Col. David Imuse (rtd.), however, described the poll as a scam and a charade.
LP members in Edo peacefully protested the election, while the three candidates of the Benin municipal councils: Egor, Ikpoba-Okha and Oredo announced on Saturday, their withdrawal from the poll, over irregularities.
LP’s chairmanship candidate in Oredo Local Government, Daniel-Ero Onaghise, said the poll was massively rigged by PDP’s members and leaders.
Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has said the “impressive performance” of the candidates of PDP in Saturday’s local government election shows the party’s dominance.
He spoke yesterday to reporters at the Diocese of Benin (Anglican Communion), St. Peter’s Anglican Church, during the 15th memorial thanksgiving service of his father, the late Pa Roland Oni Obaseki.
The governor, who was elated by the outcome of the election, stressed that Edo residents were democratically- mature, as no violence was recorded during the exercise.
He said,
“We have a situation room where we monitored the election process across the state. I want to thank the people. You can see that we are democratically-mature in Edo State, in terms of the way the election was conducted.
“I was surprised at the diligence of EDSIEC. I went round and saw the number of polling units mounted by EDSIEC, and the electoral officers in the three metropolitan local governments, and it was quite impressive. The turnout was fair as expected, and it shows that we can conduct elections without disrupting economic and social activities.
“The people voted and went about their activities. Overall, I believe we have done well. It was a free and fair election. The mass participation and dominance of PDP in the state was exhibited during the poll.”
Obaseki said he had not seen an election that had not been challenged, reiterating that even elections in the USA were challenged.
