The Labour Party, (LP) candidate in the Edo State governorship election, Olumide Akpata has claimed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are crying foul after they were outmaneuvered by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The LP governorship candidate stated this while reacting to the outcome of the Edo poll.
Akpata, who came a distant third in the election with 22,763 votes said he feels no sympathy for the PDP.
He claimed that the party willingly participated in the bidding war with the All Progressives Congress, (APC) when it was fully aware of the rules from the outset.
According to him, “PDP, who now cry foul after being outmanoeuvred in this macabre game of thrones. They willingly participated in the bidding war with the APC, fully aware of the rules from the outset.
“Their lamentations ring hollow in the face of their own complicity in this democratic travesty.
“We reserve our strongest condemnation for those who engaged in vote buying, the APC and PDP. Their actions have directly contributed to the destruction of our State’s economy over the past 25 years, creating the enabling environment for this democratic sacrilege to thrive.
“This election has laid bare the stark reality that our political landscape is dominated not by ideologies or the people’s will, but by those with the deepest pockets and the most extensive networks of influence.
“As for the APC and the Governor-elect, their actions have undermined the democratic process, betrayed the trust of the very people they seek to lead, and eroded faith in our democratic institutions.
“This is the legacy that will overshadow their ill-gotten mandate. Their “grab, snatch, and run” playbook is akin to riding on the back of a tiger will ultimately be the source of their undoing.
“The engagement of widespread vote-buying scheme by APC and PDP has reduced our electoral process to a commodity market and a bidding war for votes.”
He opined that voting buying practice was no less damaging than outright ballot stuffing which had effectively disenfranchised the electorate.
He, however, accused some members of Labour Party and agents for willingly selling their future for peanuts to the “very political parties whose actions and policies have impoverished them”.
“What transpired on 21 September 2024 was not an election but a transaction. It was enabled by those who chose to stay away, making it easier for the two dominant parties to afford a significant majority of the few votes on offer, and by those who came out and willingly sold their votes,” he added.
