As the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) continued to protest alleged manipulation of the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State in Favour of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Senator Monday Okpebholo, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) women in the party joined the fray on Tuesday, trooping out in large numbers to demand the restoration of what they described as their “stolen mandate”.
The women, all dressed in black, a symbol of mourning, carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “Tinubu, tell INEC to return our mandate”; “INEC, why did you manipulate the IReV results?”; “Edo PDP won the election but INEC and Police Colluded to change it”, among others.
The protesting women, who marched to the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ) Secretariat in Benin to reject the outcome of the election, said the announcement of the APC candidate as the winner was a rape of democracy, and called on the electoral body to restore their mandate by declaring the PDP candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, as the winner.
A spokesperson of the women, the PDP women leader and former chairman of Esan West local government area of the state, Mrs. Stella Okoro, said as mothers that meant well for the development of the state, it behoved on them to come out in protest to demand for the restoration of the mandate allegedly freely given to Ighodalo.
Okoro said, “We are here to protest against our stolen mandate. We are pained over the outcome of the election which we strongly believe was won by Asue Ighodalo. You can see that all the women are in black; we are crying to tell the world that we are mourning. Women, youths came out in large numbers and voted Dr. Asue Ighodalo; we want our mandate back”.
Also speaking, Edo South PDP Senatorial woman leader, Pat Elabor, said, “We campaigned hard, and people of the state voted for us, but to our greatest surprise, they manipulated the result. We are ready to fight and ensure that our mandate must be restored to us. We have had enough of what they are doing us. We, the mothers, are in pain”.
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