Edo Guber: APC, Edo Govt Fight Over Plan To Rig Election

Edo Guber: APC, Edo Govt Fight Over Plan To Rig Election

The Edo State Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have accused each other of planning to rig the September 21 governorship election.

While the APC accused Governor Godwin Obaseki‘s administration of trying to use Edo State Security Network to rig the governorship election; Obaseki through his media aide also accused the APC of planning to use federal influence to rig the September election.

In a statement, the Director of Media, Edo APC Campaign Council, Prince Kassim Afegbua, accused Governor Obaseki of planning to use intimidation and harassment to cow the electorates against their will.

The statement titled “Governor Obaseki plotting to rig Edo election”, On Wednesday read: “We, of the Edo State APC Campaign Council, are hereby alerting the public, Edo electorates, and all others concerned, of the clandestine and surreptitious moves by the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, to rig the forthcoming Edo Gubernatorial election using his illegal Edo Security Network as a gambit.

“We have been inundated with calls from well-meaning Edo electorates of his game plan to use threat, intimidation and harassment to disenfranchise Edo electorates from exercising their right at the elections.”

APC further alleged that Governor Obaseki increased recruitment into the state’s security network for an alleged election rigging plan.

Afegbua also alleged that the state government has commenced sewing of Police and Army personnel uniforms to be allegedly distributed to the ESN men on election day.

“We had decried before, the State Government’s activities apropos of arms procurement. The Edo State government has been recruiting even more hands into their illegal Edo Security Network, with the sole motive of empowering them for the underhand assignment of rigging the election by intimidation.

“We are aware that the State Government has now started producing Police Uniforms and Military Uniforms which the members of the Edo Security Network will be made to wear on the said day of the election, to disguise as real police officers and military personnel; to assist them in carrying out their pernicious assignment.

“Some citizens with moral rectitude, who were invited for a briefing at the Government House on Monday, raised concerns about this plot and turned down the job offer.

“The State Government is still arranging to procure more guns and other ammunition for them for the D-Day of the election,” Afegbua alleged.

Meanwhile, Special Adviser to Obaseki on Media, Crusoe Osagie, in reply said the attack of the APC Campaign Council against ESN was laughable.

Osagie added that APC through its statement exposed their plans. In the statement on Wednesday, he called on security agencies to hold APC accountable, reminding the security agencies that they a have duty to guarantee free and fair elections.

“It is rather laughable and interesting that the very thing the APC is already doing is what they are claiming that other persons are doing.

“Does anyone need answers to why the APC in Edo State has been relentless in their campaign of calumny against the State’s Security and Vigilante Network in the run-up to the gubernatorial elections and why they want to by all means discredit and disable the intelligence gathering scheme, which security agencies in the State have confirmed their role in combating crime and criminality, especially in the grassroots?

‘This tactic of accusing others of their own devious plot is a strategy that the APC is well known for, and the people of Edo State are too wise to be fooled by vain subterfuge.

“We call on the police, the military, and other security agencies to please have all hands on deck to ensure a level playing field, guaranteeing a free, fair, and credible election in Edo State,” Osagie said.