Oyo PDP Chieftain, Honourable Abayomi Fagbenro-Bibire, has advised the PDP to seek legal redress and work on solidifying unity within the party.
He stated this in a statement made available, Monday, in response to the post-election developments from Edo State.
Recall that yesterday, INEC declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Monday Okphebolo, as the winner of the Edo State gubernatorial race, defeating Asue Ighodalo of the PDP and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
Since the announcement, protests have broken out in some areas of the state to challenge INEC’s declaration of Monday Okphebolo as the winner.
In response, the staunch PDP Chieftain, who supported Asue Ighodalo, expressed solidarity with him and the party over the unfavourable electoral outcome but advised that they pursue a legal channel to challenge the result in accordance with the principles of democracy.
He further urged those protesting to remain calm and refrain from violence and destruction of property despite the provocation, assuring that the candidate and the party will seek legal redress to ensure justice prevails in the end.
The retired US Navy veteran, however, expressed sadness over the internal divisions within the PDP, both nationally and in Edo State, which, according to him, dealt a significant blow to the performance of the party in the election.
According to him, “We are not unaware of the overwhelming victory we secured in 2020, which was largely due to the unity within our party.
“Unfortunately, the reverse was the case in the just-concluded election as the national and internal crises greatly dampened our party’s hope of winning convincingly this time around.
“While I am confident of victory for us in court, I want to urge our party, both at the national level and in Edo, to embrace unity—just like in Oyo State—in order to further the ideologies of our founding fathers and reestablish the party as truly unbeatable in 2027 and beyond.”
The PDP Chieftain also used the opportunity to encourage party members spread across the federation not to be disheartened by the outcome in Edo but to remain resolute, amplifying that the PDP remains the party to be and to beat due to its pro-people ideologies.
