Akpata’s loss in Edo election not disgraceful – Labour party
The Julius Abure-led National Working Committee of the Labour Party has lamented the poor outing of its governorship candidate, Olumide Akpata, at the just concluded Edo election, saying it is currently studying the result to find out what went wrong at the poll.
The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, disclosed this in an interview with Sunday PUNCH.
Ifoh’s reaction was in synch with the position of Yiaga Africa, one of the accredited observers for the off-cycle election, that the credibility of the election was undermined by widespread allegations of results manipulation.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the poll.
Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party who secured 247,274 votes, with Akpata coming third with a wide margin of 22,763 votes.
The result has left many Labour Party supporters in shock, with many describing it as a disgraceful outing.
But Ifoh disagreed, saying it was unfair for anybody to rate the contest solely based on the figures churned out by the electoral umpire.
He said, “We don’t see it (Akpata’s participation) as a disgraceful outing as being peddled. We are still studying the result because the party has yet to have a detailed report on what transpired. This is because we heard so many irregularities and manipulation took place. So the party is studying the development before making a formal statement.
“This is politics. There is nothing disgraceful about it because in an election, somebody will win and the others lose, especially if the former has the grassroots supporting him. We are going to investigate exactly what went wrong because we have the numbers and the followership going by what transpired at the 2023 election where we won over 70 per cent of the electorate.
“But for the Edo result to turn out abysmal, it is something that we will probe to know what happened and take appropriate decision.”
When asked to confirm if the Abure-led NWC truly abandoned its candidate to his fate as being reported, the LP spokesman kicked.
