Edifi, who strolled with her daughter to a polling unit in Surulere, was attacked by suspected thugs who invaded the spot to scuttle the electoral process.
Gory images of the resilient woman, who returned to cast her ballot after receiving first aid, had trended on social media and made it to the cover pages of major newspapers including The PUNCH.
The photos showed her face covered in blood with others showing a bandaged face after receiving treatment following an attack by hoodlums at her polling unit in Lagos.
Speaking at a media parley at the party secretariat in Abuja on Thursday, Adamu and the National Working Committee of the APC praised her courage for sacrificing her time and little financial resource to return to the polling unit to cast her vote.
According to Adamu, Tinubu’s victory in Saturday’s election could not have been possible without her contribution as well those of security agents and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He said, “We have been through a gruelling experience in the hands of the doomsayers. We have pulled through in one piece and demonstrated once more that fortified by our patriotism and our duty to our nation, we will always give the lie to the doomsayers.
“The victory does not belong to the President-elect and his political party alone, it also belongs to that poor woman who, against all odds and the current financial problems, still sacrificed her time and her little financial resource to go to her polling unit to cast her vote because she wanted to have a say in who governs her and her country.
“The victory belongs to the security agencies who put their lives on the line and ensured the peaceful conduct of the election at all levels. It belongs to all Nigerians who collectively showed a determination to birth a new national leadership. It belongs especially to the chairman and the members of INEC. They laboured under a dark cloud of sabotage. INEC offices were torched in several states; its personnel were similarly attacked but Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the man who has done more than anyone else in that difficult office refused to be intimidated and be deflected from doing his duty to his country and his compatriots.”
Edifi had told The PUNCH in an exclusive interview that she was just a victim of circumstance.
She said, “I went out with my daughter to cast my vote at Dipo Olubi Street in Surulere, like every other Nigerian. When I got there, I got verified and joined the queue waiting to vote. I later went to sit down because the line wasn’t moving due to some disorderly people smuggling themselves into it.
“After sitting for some time, some boys appeared, and they looked scary. It was obvious they didn’t come to vote. They were not close to us at the time, but a bit away from where the queue was. The boys were discussing, and I could see that some people who knew them went to join them. Meanwhile, the voting process was still ongoing. After about 45 minutes, I felt a huge impact on my face and heard the sound of a gunshot.
“To be sincere, I thought I had been shot. I thought the impact I felt on my face was from a bullet. People started running, and so I stood up, placed my hand on my face, and felt blood. I started screaming for help. People who saw me calling for help fled in the opposite direction. I later ran into the building where voting was taking place. Someone later came to help me by using a handkerchief to apply pressure to my face in an attempt to stop the bleeding. We remained inside the building until the boys left. I was later able to receive first aid treatment from a nearby nurse. In the video that went viral, you will see her giving me an injection to stop the bleeding. I was then taken to a nearby hospital, where the cuts on my face were stitched. I suffered deep cuts.”
