The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has rejected the outcome of Saturday’s Edo Governorship, in which incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki was declared the winner.
Obaseki, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, secured 307,955 votes to defeat Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the APC candidate, who got 223, 619 votes.
In a statement, Sunday, the APC alleged foul play in the election, but called on party members to stay calm “while party leaders study the result and decide what is next.”
In the statement signed by the Chairman of the APC Media Campaign Council, Mr. John Mayaki, rejecting the result, the APC cited alleged strong-arm tactics.
“Our people were arbitrarily arrested, many of the figures were fabricated,” said the terse statement, which the party said was only a preliminary reaction.
It further alleged illicit tampering with results, to shore up PDP numbers and markdown APC’s.
“Areas where we won, they cancelled them. They decreased the votes in areas we had an advantage,” the party further claimed. “They rejected our results and jerked up theirs.”
Meanwhile, the party also claimed there was the arbitrary arrest of local party members, who could have resisted the outrage, while Governor Godwin Obaseki was busy diverting attention with a false alarm.
“Obaseki shouted that he was being rigged out and blamed INEC at the initial stage but that was to divert attention from the evil going on in the field”, the statement said.
The party, however, told its members to stay calm, thanking them for their support, and adding that party leaders were studying the result and would announce their decision and course of action as soon as possible.