Edo election was a bazaar, even LP members sold their votes – Olumide Akpata says

• Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party candidate for Edo State’s governorship election, argues that the recent events cannot be considered elections.

• Akpata denies winning the election, claiming major political parties paid off voters’ votes, despite finishing behind in the Independent National Electoral Commission’s results.

• A significant number of voters, including Labour Party members, cast their ballots on Saturday to sell them to the highest bidder.

• Akpata claimed that both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were involved in significant vote-buying during the Edo governorship elections.

Olumide Akpata, the Labour Party (LP) candidate for the governorship election in Edo State scheduled for September 21, has contended that the occurrences of the previous Saturday cannot be deemed as legitimate elections.

Although he finished significantly behind in the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akpata clarified that he is not asserting victory in the election. He alleged that the major political parties had engaged in the practice of purchasing votes.

He noted that a considerable number of voters, including members of the Labour Party, participated in the voting process solely to sell their votes to the highest bidder.

Akpata accused both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of extensive vote buying during the Edo governorship elections.

Akpata expressed these views during an interview 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.

“What happened was a tragedy. Let us remove Olu Akpata and Labour Party and interrogate our electoral process. It is something we must look into closely,” he noted.

The candidate from the Labour Party expressed astonishment at the electorate’s reaction to vote-buying. He compared the voters to captives who have developed an attachment to their captors, noting that he was surprised by their willingness to accept cash incentives from political parties.

He emphasized that the Labour Party conducted a vigorous campaign and recognized the genuine desire for change among the populace. However, they ultimately succumbed to overwhelming pressure.

Akpata stated: “I was taken aback by the reaction of the people. The captives who are in love with their captors. That one left me a little bit dumbfounded because I did not expect that reaction from the people.

“We campaigned vigorously around the state and I know that the people really wanted to see change. But in the face of inducement of that magnitude, apparently, they capitulated.

“We were not sure of the process but we had more confidence in the people. But the people decided to go for freshly-minted cash that was on offer.

“The papa, mama, pickin that we thought would come out and say enough is enough, as they told us when we campaigned; when they came and found there was so much money on the table, every other consideration was out of the window,” he lamented.

The former president of the Nigeria Bar Association, explained that the deep-rooted poverty and misery in the country “has made it such that the people are unable to connect between their current situation and those who are the cause of their situation. For me, that was a big lesson to learn. That if you think you know the people, you have to think again,” Akpata concluded.