Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Edo State chapter of the Labour Party (LP), has rejected the outcome of the September 2, Local Government Councils elections, saying it was a sham and should be rejected by all lovers of democracy.
The call for the rejection is coming 16 days after the elections were conducted in the state.
Addressing Journalists in Benin City during a peaceful protest to the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State Council, chairman of the party, Kelly Ogbaloi, said that the election was marred with a lot of irregularities.
He said election materials were not evenly distributed yet results were announced from those areas where election did not hold.
“It is sad because if you are to prepare for free and fair election , it requires the participation and the inclusion of the political parties existing in that particular sovereignty but this was not the case.
“In about 18 Local Government Areas in Edo State, materials didn’t get up to about 10 local government and yet, this PDP came out with results, showing that they got votes and were elected as candidates in 18 Local Governments.
“This experience is very pathetic, this experience is not in conformity with the tenet of democracy.
“And we are calling on the community of Nigeria and Edo State in particular to reject it”, Agbaloi said.
He said that, that single act allegedly carried out by the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) was a rape of democracy.
The party’s chairman also alleged that EDSIEC has denied its party access to the true copy of the election results for the reasons best known to them.
“When Labour Party via its legal adviser, send a letter to the Institution, saddled by Justice Oyomire James, that we will deserve to have a true copy of the exercise of that election in order to make review appropriately, to take stands on what my party will do, but we have been denied these documentations”, Ogbaloi said.
Receiving the protesters at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre, Edo State council, the chairman, Festus Alenkhe admonished the party to follow due process in achieving its aims.
Contacting the EDSIEC chairman, Justice Oyomire James (rtd) for his comment on the alleged refusal of the true copy of the election results, he said the Labour Party was told to pay some money before they could be issued the copy.