Candidate of the Accord Party in the just-concluded governorship election in Edo State, Dr. Bright Enabulele, has rejected the result of the election held last Saturday, describing it as peaceful but not credible.
Enabulele who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, attributed this reason for rejecting the outcome of the exercise.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Monday declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of All Progressive Congress (APC) as the winner of the election.
However, the Accord Party’s candidate questioned the process that led to the emergence of Okpebholo as the the winner of the election.
He said, “I don’t have any problem with the winner of the election. I have problems with the way the election was conducted, which has to do with the process. The provisions of our elections are there to make sure that the voices of the people are protected.
“Electoral process is a process that determines if there are going to be corruption in the land. If the process are not streamlined and they are not correctly followed, that means we go into election and elect someone that is not supposed to be there.
“There’s a difference between peace and credibility. The election was peaceful, doesn’t mean it was credible. There were a lot of things that went wrong during the election, which was as a result human interference. We are in 21st century, and such things should not have happened
“At my political unit, ward five, unit one in Ikpoba-Oha local government area, there were a lot of things that went wrong. There were a lot of voter suppressions, intimidation and vote buying. And we said we were conducting election to elect someone that can lead the state, the number one security officer.
“That process should be protected without any human interference. And because of much human interference you elect the wrong persons and you invite corruption. Bad governance actually starts from how we elect our leaders. And that Saturday just showed me that we have not grown as a country in terms of the way we conduct elections.”
The Accord Party’s candidate blamed INEC for what he called “poor electoral process” during the Edo governorship election, adding that “INEC has questions to answer.”
He said, “The system was in place to make sure that this election does not require human interference. It was BVAS and IREV. I had a chance to be on the line and I was profiled. There was a proper identity, and then there was a photograph taken. Then I had a chance to go into the boot, pick up the slip, thumbprint, and drop it in the box. When the result of my local government was released (where I also voted), zero vote was recorded for me. What happened after I voted? That’s the question INEC has to answer.”
He added, “I see a lot of disparity in this election. And I felt that INEC should be held responsible. This election is about the future, not because of today. History will judge us. I’m not sitting here because of a power struggle. I’m sitting here today saying that if I fail, let me fail correctly, and if I win, let me win correctly.”
Enabulele also accused the media of bias, adding that it only play up the activities of three candidates and neglected others.
“The media also play a role in this election. The media was running the election like a three man race. There were 17 candidates, but the media focused only on the candidates of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and All Progressive Congress (APC).
“The media gave the candidates of these three parties a privilege over others. By focusing on these three candidates, the media invariably told people that they should only vote for the three candidates. And this allows manipulation,” he added.