The Labour Party (LP) candidate in the Edo State governorship election, Olumide Akpata, has ridiculed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for lamenting their loss after willingly engaging in a vote-buying contest with the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akpata, who finished third in the election with 22,763 votes, said he had no sympathy for the PDP’s complaints about the election outcome. According to him, the party had knowingly participated in the vote-buying schemes alongside the APC, fully understanding the rules of the game from the start.
In his words: “The PDP, now crying foul after being outmaneuvered, were active players in this macabre political bidding war with the APC. Their complaints sound hollow, given their involvement in this democratic travesty.”
Akpata further condemned both the APC and PDP for engaging in vote-buying, which he believes has devastated Edo State’s economy and eroded the integrity of its democratic institutions over the past 25 years.
“This election exposes the sad reality that our politics is not driven by ideology or the people’s will but by those with the deepest pockets and widest networks of influence,” Akpata stated.
He accused the APC and the Governor-elect of betraying the trust of the people, warning that their actions will overshadow their victory. “Their ‘grab, snatch, and run’ strategy is riding a tiger that will eventually lead to their downfall,” he said.
Akpata also criticized the electoral process, stating that it had been reduced to a commodity market, where votes were bought and sold. He described the widespread vote-buying as just as damaging as outright ballot-stuffing, which disenfranchised voters.
He did not spare his own party, accusing some Labour Party members and agents of selling out their future to the very parties that have impoverished them. “What happened on 21 September 2024 was not an election, but a transaction,” Akpata added, lamenting that voter apathy and the actions of those who sold their votes contributed to this flawed process.
