The chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in Edo State, Kelly Ogbalo, has lamented the outcome of the governorship election that was held in the state on Saturday, News About Nigeria reports.
He expressed his feelings on the election in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Benin on Monday.
Ogbalo claimed that the election was not free and fair, stating that the Labour Party would have won if it had.
Recall that the Edo State Governorship election was held on Saturday, the 21st of September 2024, across the local governments in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Sen. Monday Okpebholo of the APC winner of the election on Sunday, September 22.
Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 247,274 votes while LP’s candidate, Mr Olumide Akpata, came third with 22,763 votes.
Reacting to this, Ogbalo expressed disappointment in the result.
He claimed that the election was marred by serious irregularities, including open vote-buying that the security agencies failed to check.
He said, “Labour Party won the election but was not allowed to take possession.
“What I mean by that is that the election was marred with serious irregularities; there was open vote buying. The security agencies failed to check this anomaly.
“So in such a way where votes were bought and with manipulation of results here and there. What do you expect?”
Speaking on whether the party will contest the result, he noted that the party has yet to call a state council meeting to take a position on the matter.
