Edo 2024: Atedo Peterside Asks  Nigerians To Challenge Governorship Results

By Adesina Soyooye

One of Nigeria’s most accomplished bankers, Mr Atedo Peterside has asked all Nigeria’s who care for democracy to stand up and challenge the outcome of the September 21, Edo Governorship Election.

The much condemned Election has been described by not a few people as a sham. Over 22 Election Observer-groups have dismissed it as a no-no.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Monday Okpebholo winner of the exercise. To consolidate his victory, INEC on Thursday, presented him and his running mate, their Certificates of Return.

But two of the frontline Candidates, Dr. Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party, LP, have both rejected the outcome. While Ighodalo dismissed it as daylight robbery, insisting he won the election, Akpata dismissed it as bizarre.

However, Peterside, the founder of Stanbic IBTC and Anap Foundation, has raised the ante.

In a post he shared on his X account, he showed how results from IREV were manipulated, and urged “all right thinking Nigerians to challenge the outcome.”

The result declared by INEC showed that Okpebholo, the Senator who represents Edo Central in the Senate, won 11 out of 18 Local Government in the State.

But Peterside in his post says that from what was posted on IREV, the declared results were manipulated.

Ighodalo of the PDP won seven Local Government  Areas with 247,274  while Labour Party (LP)’s Olumide Akpata came a distant third with just 22,763 votes.

But in  four different results posted by Peterside, the APC won, garnering more votes than the number of voters accredited.

For instance, “in one of the manipulated results obtained from INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV), 213 voters were accredited while the APC got 352 votes. 52 votes were recorded for the PDP in the polling unit located at Osholo Primary School, Osholo in Etsako East LGA.

“Another result from the same local government showed that the APC secured 377 votes, which is more than 275 accredited voters at the polling unit.

“Other results where APC won also showed 98.5% voter turnout at the polling units, despite 22.2% turnout recorded across the state on Election Day.”

In response,  Peterside said, “Edo Governorship Elections; In sample Polling Unit results from @inecnigeria IREV shown below, @OfficialAPCNg recorded more votes than total no. of accredited voters or they achieved over 98.5% voter turnout versus a State-wide turnout of 22.2%. @Aighodalo @OfficialPDPNig & all right-thinking Nigerians must challenge this #EdoDecides2024″.