Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party’s candidate in the recent Edo State governorship election, has attributed his party’s third-place finish to a significantly flawed electoral process. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner, with 291,667 votes, while the PDP’s Asue Ighodalo secured 247,274 votes, and Akpata finished third with just 22,763 votes.
In the election, the APC emerged victorious in 10 of the state’s 18 Local Government Areas, with the PDP winning in the remaining eight.
During an appearance on Channels Television’s flagship program, *Politics Today*, Akpata highlighted key issues that contributed to the Labour Party’s disappointing result. “The outcome shows that the Labour Party came in a very distant third, which can be attributed to a thoroughly flawed process,” he stated.
Akpata pointed out the alarming level of voter apathy, estimating that only about 20% of eligible voters participated in the election. He expressed concern over the chaotic scenes at collation centers, describing the environment as “mayhem.”
“You saw what happened at the collation centers, where there was chaos at some local government collation centers and complete disorder at the state collation center,” he said. “This demonstrates that the election held on the 21st was not conducted fairly. It’s one thing to lose fair and square, but when you realize that the Labour Party was essentially out of the race from the start, having come to a gunfight with a penknife, it’s disheartening. We lacked the resources for vote-buying, which was clearly evident.”
Akpata concluded, “For me, that’s how I would describe the process: vote-buying, voter apathy, and chaos at the collation centers. This is how we ended up with the outcome you mentioned. I accept defeat with humility if it is on a level playing field, but this was not the case.”
