Edo Guber: LP would have won if election was free, fair – Ogbalo

The Edo State Chapter of the Labour Party, LP, Mr Kelly Ogbalo, says the party would have won the state governorship election if the election was conducted in a free and fair manner.

Ogbalo made this allegation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN in Benin on Monday.

He said the election was marred by serious irregularities, including open vote-buying that the security agencies failed to check.

When asked if LP would challenge the result in court, Ogbalo said the party had yet to call a state council meeting to take a position on the matter.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had on September 22 declared Monday Okpebholo the APC winner of the election.

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.

“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?” he asked