Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State has berated a former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka, for claiming that the 2024 Edo State governorship election was rigged to favour the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Naija News reports that Chidoka, the founder of a non-profit organisation, Athena Centre, had insisted the September 21 Edo State governorship election should not stand.
The former Minister, during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, indicted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the conduct of the election.
Athena Centre reportedly reviewed the election, which produced the APC candidate, Okpebholo, as governor of the South-South state, claiming that it was compromised. 
Recall that Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to beat his closest contender, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 247,274 votes.
However, Chidoka, who presented the Athena Centre’s findings on the Edo State election, stated that there was substantial evidence of systemic rigging.
He said, “The evidence of systemic rigging observed in this election is so substantial that we cannot call the results,” Chidoka said on the programme.
“The evidence of systemic rigging is so substantial that we think that this election should not be allowed to stand. If this stands, then there is no election in 2027.”
But reacting in a statement to Naija News on Saturday, Okpebholo’s Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, said in a well-orchestrated plot hatched by the PDP, in connivance with Chidoka, tried to bully and blackmail the judiciary into circumventing the will of Edo people.
He said the shameful display on Channels Television’s Politics Today reeled out numbers purchased from ‘Oluwole market,’ and impetuously concluded that the 21st September governorship election in Edo State was rigged.
According to him, Chidoka’s Athena Centre did not cover the election in substantial parts of the state, stressing that they sat in Edo state Government House under the supervision of ex-Governor Godwin Obaseki to concoct and orchestrate figures and numbers to suit their mindset.
The statement read: “First, the factional chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Edo State, is blind to the glaring reality that the party was spurned by Edo people in the last governorship election because of their weakness, as own enemies. Overlooking its messy and divided house, the party is shopping for non-existent evidence to upturn the popular will of the people, at the Tribunal. What exactly is the intention and or benefit of orchestrating a media trial, as Mr. Chidoka has done? It amounts to deliberate ambush. Even though the PDP and its hatchetman understand that discussing an issue that is sub-judicial is wrong, they are yet unremitting in their shambolic plot to supplant facts with concoctions, with the hope of arriving at their pre-meditated end.
“This case is already in Court and Tribunal; and it need be allowed to run its full course, without inhibitions. Thankfully, courts do not pander to concoctions, prevarication, sentiments, red-herrings, contradictions and orchestrations, but evidence and facts. We are hopeful that the Judiciary will remain firm, in the face of this blackmail, intimidation and orchestrated media attacks. The recent attempt by the PDP and her serial defector, Osita Chidoka, to arm-twist logic and employ demagoguery to whip up sentiments all together, amounts to the last cry of a bull as the butcher’s knife serrates its chord; and nothing more.
“We are aware that former Governor Godwin Obaseki and some PDP leaders in Edo State, and their supporters had a meeting during the week, with online merchants and editors of leading newspapers; where it was decided that media trial should be the pattern of their current engagement to discredit the very credible Edo election of 21st September. The truth of the matter is that, INEC conducted a very free and fair, violence-free election acknowledged by domestic observers in their various reports. The PDP leadership in Edo state in its review and report, also acknowledged that APC won the election. The latest drama of Osita Chidoka amounts to merely beating about the bush, trying to rake up mud against the election. The PDP should allow the Tribunal do its job in line with established procedures.
“The idea of deploying the services of editors and senior journalists with a marching order to discredit the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo by all means possible is outlandish and self-serving. Their identities are now known, and will be made public in the coming days. We can see that they have recoursed to the social media spaces, pages of national newspapers and pliable national televisions, to push their ugly narratives, that Governor Okpebholo did not win the 21st September governorship election in Edo State. By this, we make them all aware that Governor Monday Okpebholo is making good progress in office as the duly elected Governor with an irrevocable mandate for the next four years.
“The trigger that led to these desperate moves is the decision by the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo to verify assets of the state, to recover stolen cars and other assets from Obaseki’s criminal allies, and probe, if necessary, the financial heist orchestrated by the last administration.
“As the duly-elected Governor of Edo State, Governor Monday Okpebholo will not be blackmailed by media propaganda and or paid social media contractors. He has vowed to recover every dime or asset stolen by officials of the Obaseki administration.
“In the coming days, more revelations about the financial heist, contract scams, abuse of power and destruction of Edo State, orchestrated by the Obaseki-led administration will be made known to Edo people. This is necessary, as his own progress and contributions to the development of the state, must be reliably measurable and fair, when he is assessed.
“Governor Okpebholo, has since hit the ground running, and will not be distracted by the shenanigans of paid PDP agents. He will continue to work hard for Edo people and remedy the mess created by the Obaseki-led administration in eight years. He will not sit back and allow a few individuals, who are too timid to allow the will of Edo people stand, sabotage the State.
“Anyone who runs foul of the law will face the full wrath of the law. Moles and saboteurs planted in different ministries, departments and agencies of government by Obaseki and his cohorts, will soon be exposed; and nothing will stop Governor Monday Okpebholo from standing on the side of truth, fairness, integrity and progress.”
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