THE Edo State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has attributed its woeful performance in last Saturday’s governorship election conducted in the state to a lack of fairness and unmitigated deployment of money to influence voters.
The party came a distance third with 22,763 votes behind candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo with 291,667 votes – who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo with 247,274 votes.
Mr. Kelly Ogbalo, Chairman of the Labour Party in Edo State, said the election was marred by serious irregularities, including open vote-buying that security agencies failed to check.
“Labour Party won the election but was not allowed to take possession,” Ogbalo stated, attributing the loss to widespread electoral malpractices.
“The election was marred with serious irregularities; there was open vote-buying. The security agencies failed to check this anomaly,” Ogbalo alleged.
“So, in such a way where votes were bought and with manipulation of results here and there, what do you expect?”
Asked if the Labour Party would challenge the result in court, Ogbalo revealed that the party had yet to convene a state council meeting to decide on the matter.
Eighteen-Eleven Media