By Ayodele Oni
Major opposition parties in Edo State have described Saturday’s local government election as a sham.
Some of them, however, boycotted the election, citing concerns over legality, fairness, and credibility of the process conducted by the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC).
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), and National Democratic Congress (NDC) refrained from fielding candidates, leaving the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) with minimal or no serious competition in most of the 18 local government areas.
EDSIEC had cleared 12 parties for the polls, but the absence of the main opposition groups turned the exercise into what critics described as a virtual walkover for the APC.
In a strongly worded statement issued after the polls, Saintmoses Eromosele, NDC candidate for the Esan Central Constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly, highlighted widespread issues with result sheets obtained from several polling centres.
According to Eromosele in the statement, the sheets showed cancellations, contradictory figures, and arithmetic that “simply do not add up.”
He claimed that in some centres, APC votes were recorded as the total valid votes despite other parties receiving credits, while in others, the sum of valid and rejected votes exceeded the number of accredited voters.
“They had no serious competition. They controlled the process. Yet they still could not produce believable arithmetic,” Eromosele stated.
He questioned the ruling party’s competence in governance, asking how a government unable to reconcile basic election figures could manage budgets, education, health, security, and public funds.
Eromosele urged Edo residents to preserve the result sheets as evidence of “shameful display of incompetence” and described the episode as a poor example for children, equating it to unacceptable cheating in a classroom setting.
He positioned the NDC as offering a “credible path toward national renewal,” endorsing Peter Obi for president in 2027 and himself for the Esan Central seat.
The boycott stemmed from allegations of constitutional violations, including the dissolution of previously elected local government officials and their replacement with caretaker committees, the reconstitution of EDSIEC before the end of its tenure, and disregard for court judgments.
PDP chairman Tony Aziegbemi had earlier declared that “illegality cannot produce legitimacy.”
EDSIEC maintained that the process was prepared and conducted peacefully, with manual accreditation and voting.
Governor Monday Okpebholo and APC officials described voter turnout as encouraging in available reports.
Some early results, such as in Ovia South West, showed APC victories.
As results are being expected, the claims of irregularities remain unverified by independent observers in public reports so far.
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