Chairman of Labour Party (LP) in Edo State, Mr Kelly Ogbalo has alleged that the party would have won the state governorship election if it was conducted in a free and fair manner. He disclosed this in an interview in Benin on Monday.
Mr Olumide Akpata who was the governorship candidate for the Labour Party came third in the outcome of the election. Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Monday Okpebholo won the election with candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo emerging second.
Ogbalo claimed that the election was marred by serious irregularities, including open vote-buying that the security agencies failed to check.
“Labour Party won the election but was not allowed to take possession. What I mean by that is that the election was marred with serious irregularities; there was open vote buying. The security agencies failed to check this anomaly.
“So in such a way where votes were bought and with manipulation of results here and there. What do you expect?,” he said.
When asked if LP would challenge the result in court, Ogbalo said the party was yet to call a state council meeting to take a position on the matter.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Sept. 22 declared Sen. Monday Okpebholo of the APC winner of the election.
Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 247,274 votes while LP’s candidate, Mr Olumide Akpata, came third with 22,763 votes.