Governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded election in Edo State, Olumide Akpata, has claimed that some members of his party sold their votes to other political parties.
Recall that on Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission, declared All Progressive Congress’ candidate, Monday Okpebholo as the winner, securing 291,667 votes.
Asue Ighodalo of the PDP followed with 247,655 votes, while LP’s candidate finished third with 22,763 votes.
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Speaking on the election, Akpata who was featured in an interview on Channels TV, on Thursday, blamed his failure on poverty, stating that his supporters and even members of his party sold their votes.
Describing the situation as a tragedy, Akpata said that 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.
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“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.
“The level of deprivation, poverty in the land has made it such that the people are unable to connect the dots between their current situation and those who are the cause of their situation.”
