Olusegun Ariyo
The governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded election in Edo State, Olumide Akpata has claimed that members of his party sold out their votes to other political parties.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on Sunday announced Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, winner of the election conducted on Saturday.
The APC candidate polled 291, 667 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Asue Ighodalo, who also garnered 247,274 votes.
Olumude Akpata, however, came a distant third with 22,763 votes.
Speaking on the election, Akpata who was featured in an interview on Channels TV blamed his failure on poverty, stating that his supporters and even LP members sold their votes.
Akpata, who described the situation as a tragedy, said the decision of the electorates to go for cash was a big lesson he learned.
He said, “Some of my supporters stayed at home but a large number of them sold their votes.
“What happened was a tragedy. Let us remove focus from Akpata and the Labour Party and interrogate our electoral process.
“Members of my party sold their votes. It is something that we must look into closely. They decided to go for cash. That was a big lesson to learn. I meant that if you think you know the people, you have to think again and look inward”.
