In a surprising and contentious move, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced its own version of the results from Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State, despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) being the sole body authorized to declare such results under the Constitution and the 2022 Electoral Act.
During a press conference held on Sunday, just ahead of INEC’s scheduled collation of results at its central Collation Centre in Benin City, PDP governors, including Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, took to the podium to present what they claimed were the official results from various polling units and local governments.
Fintiri, standing alongside Asue Ighodalo, the PDP’s governorship candidate, asserted that the figures they provided were already in the public domain.
“I am not usurping the powers of the electoral umpire,” he stated.
“I did not announce results, I only informed the public on the exact figure from our collation agent that was ongoing before INEC disrupted the process… INEC should be accused of violating the Electoral Act, not me,” Fintiri said.
Naija News understands that INEC, as at the time of filing this report is yet to commence the collation of results for the governorship election held on Saturday in Edo State.
See the video of the press conference below: