Segun Sowunmi, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), described the outcome of the 2023 general elections as an own goal. Sowunmi blames the PDP for their loss in the just-concluded elections, in a recent Channels Television’s Politics Today interview.
Unlike in 2019, when the party believed it was cheated, the 2023 election turnout was unusual, according to Sowunmi. He explained that the party could not even get their traditional victory numbers in some states.
Sowunmi praised the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for doing an excellent job in the accreditation of voters during the elections. However, he blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for failing to transmit the results of the polls electronically, especially during the February 25 poll.
He stated, “I would like to say we gave it out ourselves…It was a terrible own goal for our party.”
The PDP had internal crises that needed to be solved before the election. Five party governors refused to work for the party’s flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar, insisting that the embattled PDP national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, steps down as a candidate of southern extraction.
