Violence breaks out in Benin as PDP refuses to accept governorship election results

THOUSANDS of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members have taken to the streets in Edo State protesting the results of the recent gubernatorial elections after the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) declared Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner.

 

On Wednesday, the People of Edo State went to the polls to elect a new governor and having counted the votes, Inec declared Mr Obaseki the winner with 319,483 votes, with Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the PDP coming second with 253,173 votes. However, the PDP has refused to accept the results and its supporters took to the streets of the state capital Benin City, blocking the road to the Inec offices.

 

Security men were forced to fire teargas and gunshots to scare the protesters away from the vicinity of the Inec office. Pastor Ize-Iyamu too has rejected the outcome of the election, saying the results were different from those collated at the polling units and declared in different wards.

 

He accused Inec of conniving with incumbent governor Adams Oshiomhole and the security agencies to declare fake results. According to Pastor Ize-Iyamu, his party was not totally surprised because long before the election, the PDP had anticipated what happened and had also warned Inec, security agencies and alerted the Edo people on the situation.

 

Pastor Ize-Iyamu, added: "The PDP in Edo State, after carefully reviewing the events of yesterday September 28, 2016, totally rejects the purported outcome of the voting exercise and the results announced by Inec. Firstly, we are in total amazement at the details of the results released by Inec because all of them are fake and not the figures announced at various units and as collated at various wards across the state.

 

"The fake results announced by Inec are entirely are fabrication which do not reflect the true picture of what transpired during the election. Based on the results emanating from across the state, PDP won the election fair and square and with a very comfortable margin, so it is with disgust that we have been receiving fake results which were never recorded either at the units or the ward collation centres."

 

He accused Inec of providing the serial numbers of all result sheets to Governor Oshiomole and his APC government, to print fresh result sheets. According to Pastor Ize-Iyamu, with the benefit of hindsight, the 18-day period of postponement of the election was to provide enough time for the governor and his government to print these result sheets and perfect the writing of fake results at the units and at all levels of collation.