Emmanuel Odigie, the Deputy Campaign Director for the Asue Ighodalo campaign directorate, wept on live television as he broke down the circumstances that led to the defeat of his candidate in the just-ended governorship elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), after its collation, announced Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship elections, polling 291,667 votes against 247,274 for Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party.

This was the APC's biggest election victory since President Bola Tinubu became president last year.

Reacting to the result, Odigie said: "Over 30 civil society organizations said the elections were rigged and anyone who says the PDP was part of it doesn't know what they are talking about. Of course, the legacy PDP came out to support the APC to perpetuate this evil on Edo people. For the first time in my life, I was broken down before Igbo women.

At the airport yesterday, Vimbai, I saw four women, two from Houston, Texas, and two from Atlanta, Georgia. They said they are coming to Nigeria to vote for the first time. They came to mobilize their family and tenants to vote for Asue Ighodalo, but in tears, they said they would never come back to Nigeria again."

Asue Ighadalo, in his reactions to the result, said they would challenge the announcement in court.

"The way these elections are going, they are probably going to be the worst elections in the history of this country," Ighodalo said.

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), which monitored the election, accused both the PDP and APC of vote-buying and also said election officials had been intimidated in some areas.