It appears the controversy generated by the Edo State off-cycle governorship election might not end any time soon as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa has joined the flurry of reactions trailing the poll.
The PDP in Adamawa State, in its reaction to the outcome of the election, described it as “Daylight Robbery.”
Recall that Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC was declared the winner of the fiercely contested September 21st governorship election, defeating his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the PDP.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared that the APC candidate scored 291,667 votes while Ighodalo polled 247,274 votes.
Olumide Akpata of the LP came a distant third with 22,761 votes.
Addressing newsmen during a press briefing in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, the party asked relevant offices of the PDP in Abuja and Edo State to be quick in seeking redress.
State Chairman of the PDP, Ahmed Shehu, who read out the text of the briefing at the state secretariat of the party in Yola, noted that the party in the state was in alignment with the position of the party national chairman, Umar Damagun, and the PDP governors that the Edo guber poll was highly compromised.
Shehu said the state chapter stands by the results presented by the chairman of the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri which indicated that the PDP candidate in the Edo election, Dr. Ighodalo got the highest votes
“We abhor the desperation of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which employed all lethal means, including violent manipulation, to subvert the wishes of the generality of Edo people,” Ahmed Shehu said.
Continuing, the chairman added that the “daylight political robbery by the APC” is a threat to Nigeria’s democracy and may, in particular, worsen growing political apathy.
“We wish to state that we are solidly behind our national party leadership taking any legal measure to ensure that the stolen mandate in Edo State is retrieved,” he said.