Ighodalo: PDP didn't buy votes in Edo election

Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 21st 2024 governorship election in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo has denied his party’s involvement in the election.

He said this on TVC post election interview where he laid electoral malpractices reported in some parts of the State at the doorstep of the All Progressives Congress.

Ighodalo insisted that he won the election despite the declaration of APC Candidate in the election, Senator Monday Okpebholo as winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“I have said that before. And I will say it again,. We didn’t buy votes in PDP. I am confident that we didn’t indulge in that. We interacted with the people. We campaigned.

“We had the people on our side regardless of the vote buying by APC, and the amount of money they (APC) spent on the field on that day. We still won that election fair and square.

“If we had indulge in vote buying, police would have arrested our boys for vote buying or any other form of electoral offences on that day because we had police all over the place. They were watching carefully”, he said.

The PDP Candidate accused some INEC and the security personnel of doing the bidding of Nigeria’s ruling party, which the party had refuted vehemently.

Ighodalo also alleged that young Nigerians have lost faith in the nation’s democracy after outcome of the 2023 general elections, a development, he claimed
accounted for about 60 voter apathy witnessed at the governorship poll.

“People get to the state-of-mind because they felt that their votes don’t count. If you see what happened in Edo election, it further accentuate peoples view that votes don’t count.

“I spent a lot of time with especially young people during the campaigns, encouraging them to go and vote. I promised them that their votes will count because they still haven’t recovered from the 2023 general elections.

“I don’t want people to loose hope in the system. We fought for this democracy. Many of us worked hard for this democracy.

“We will do everything within our powers by the grace of God almighty to reclaim true democracy in Nigeria”, Ighodalo vowed that the court would restore his mandate.