Edo election was a farce, Labour Party members sold their votes – Olumide Akpata

Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party’s (LP) candidate for Edo State’s September 21 governorship election, has argued that the events of last Saturday cannot be classified as elections.

Despite finishing well behind in the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) results, Akpata said he is not claiming to have won the election and that the major political parties had paid off the voters’ votes.

He said that a sizable portion of voters, including Labour Party members, only turned out to cast ballots on Saturday in order to sell them to the highest bidder.

According to him, both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were involved in massive vote buying during the Edo governorship polls.

In a previous reports made by Gistreel, Akpata made the submission on Wednesday during an interview appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“I am not saying that we won the election. I am saying there was no election, there was a transaction. It is very difficult to say who would have won or lost.

“300,000 votes by our estimation were bought by the two parties actively participating in that bazaar. That is enough to swing any election.

“Some stayed at home but a large number (of voters) came out and sold their votes. What happened was a tragedy. Members of my party sold their votes,” the LP candidate said.