The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has accused Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State and the All Progressives Congress(APC) leadership in the state of hoodwinking “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with a fraudulent promise to deliver all 18 local government areas and two million votes for him in the forthcoming 2027 Presidential Election.”
The PDP stated that “in his own election with all the irregularities and fraudulent practices enabled by INEC, Senator Okpebholo barely won in eleven of the eighteen local government areas. The case is in the tribunal waiting for judgement.
“It is also important to state, without fear of contradiction, that there are not up to 2 million votes in Edo. At no time in history has Edo State recorded 2 million votes in any election, whether presidential or gubernatorial, which is typically an off-cycle election.
“For the record, Edo State has never recorded more than 700,000 votes in any election. These same political swindlers making these bogus promises could not even garner 300,000 votes in the last gubernatorial election that brought them to office—an election whose outcome is still keenly contested in court—yet they claim they will miraculously deliver ten times that number. What could be more comic, ridiculous and reprehensible?”
Going down memory lane, PDP disclosed: “In the keenly contested 2015 Presidential election, which saw former President Muhammadu Buhari face off against incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, the number of accredited voters in Edo State stood at 599,166. The PDP garnered 286,869 votes, while the APC polled 208,469.
“In 2019, during the election between former President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, the APC received 267,842 votes, while the PDP polled 275,691, with a total of 604,915 accredited voters.
“For the 2023 Presidential election that brought in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the total number of accredited votes was 603,894, with the APC receiving 144,471 only.
“In the 2012 governorship election, former Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the ACN, now APC, secured his reelection with 477,478 votes out of 647,698 total votes cast, defeating his closest rival, Charles Airhiarvbere of the PDP, who received 144,235 votes.
“In 2016, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki of the APC was declared the winner with a total of 319,483 votes, defeating 18 other candidates, including his closest rival, Ize-Iyamu Osagie of the PDP, who polled 253,173 votes.
“In 2020, Obaseki was again reelected on the PDP platform with a total of 307,955 votes, defeating the APC’s Ize-Iyamu, who received 223,619 votes; the accredited voters stood at 613,244.
“Interestingly, in the results declared by INEC for the 2024 governorship election, which brought Okpebholo to office, the APC received 291,667 votes, the PDP garnered 247,274 votes, while the Labour Party polled 22,763 votes.”
The PDP challenged APC and Governor Okpebholo “how APC and Senator Okpebholo intend to find the 2 million votes it claims it will deliver to President Tinubu between 2025 and 2027 is the scam of the year!
“These are all tricks by Okpebholo and APC, and thankfully, the people of Edo can see through their façade. It is a fraudulent plan designed to deceive the President and exert undue pressure on the tribunal judges to uphold the flawed and manipulated 2024 governorship election that brought Okpebholo into office.”
According to the PDP, “if President Tinubu hopes to win Edo State, he should not rely on Okpebholo and the APC leadership in the state. They clearly lack the capacity to deliver Edo to him, and he would be better served by looking elsewhere.”
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