The closing one week of electioneering campaigns in Edo State was characterised by suspicions and a flurry of allegations between two of the leading political parties in the contest for the coveted governorship seat for Edo State in the election that holds tomorrow. The allegations have raised doubt on whether the election will be peaceful,
The closing one week of electioneering campaigns in Edo State was characterised by suspicions and a flurry of allegations between two of the leading political parties in the contest for the coveted governorship seat for Edo State in the election that holds tomorrow. The allegations have raised doubt on whether the election will be peaceful, free, fair, and credible.
The tension came to the fore with the refusal of the PDP to sign the peace accord with the other political parties raising allegations that certain actions by INEC and the Police High Command may not engender peaceful conduct of the election. Specifically, the PDP called for the redeployment of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, alleged to be affiliated with a partisan politician as well as the Police Commissioner.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has also made a flurry of allegations against some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for being willing tools to compromise the poll in favour of its major opponent, the PDP. The APC in a letter titled “ATTEMPT TO COMPROMISE THE EDO STATE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION” and addressed to INEC Chairman on September 18, alleged that three top officials of the commission in the state are conniving with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to manipulate the outcome of the election.
INEC officials mentioned in the letter are —Inoyengieni Frank Ogbise, the HOD operations Edo State; Lawrence Akan, the head of ICT Edo State; and Blessings Suleiman, the electoral officer of Akoko Edo Local Government Area. The APC accused Mr. Inoyengieni Frank Ogbise and a deputy director of Information, Communication, and Technology of planting some INEC staff in Eterno Hotel which is owned by the Director General of the PDP Campaign organization to distort the electoral process as he is also planning to leave the country after the poll.
The party further alleged that Mr Lawrence Akan, the INEC head of ICT in Edo State was also seen sharing some money collected from PDP with his colleagues to tamper with the result of the election. Similarly, there was an allegation against the electoral officer in Akoko-Edo Local Government, Blessing Suleiman, with the claim that she was working with the chairman of the local government by giving PVCs of registered voters to the Chairman to deprive legitimate voters of the right to exercise their franchise.
As a result, APC asked the INEC Chairman to intervene as this development has made them lose confidence in the mentioned officials to conduct a credible poll on Saturday. The letter was signed by the APC State Party Chairman, Jarret Tenebe, and State Secretary, Lawrence Okah.
On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party has also alleged the APC of attempting to rig the election with the influence it has as the ruling party at the federal level. PDP alleged that APC is bringing thugs from other states to cause unrest at the poll, declaring that the election would be a tussle between federal might and the residents as they will not allow the election to go against the wishes of the people of the state.
The PDP also cast a vote of no confidence in the police for arresting 10 of its members and detaining them in Abuja, a development that led to the party’s refusal to sign the Peace Accord last week in the state. As a result, the party expressed its concerns about the influence of the federal government and the former governor of the state, Senator Adams Oshiomole on the security agencies to rig the election and work against them and their supporters.
Speaking during the week, the state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, during a press briefing alleged Senator Oshiomole of keeping ballot papers in his residence to prevent other opposition parties the chance of getting fair results in the election.
“We are aware of plans that have already been concluded by Senator Adams Oshiomhole to engage the Commander of Mopol 60 and his men who have been engaged to provide shield in the polling units around Senator Oshiomhole’s home in Iyamho to allow the Senator and his supporters to take the ballot papers and all election materials into his premises and thumbprint all the ballot papers for APC, leaving other parties with no chances of getting fair votes. In the last elections, we gave this information, but it was ignored. The BVAS report validated our report as 210 people were accredited but over 1000 votes were recorded.”
The commissioner also accused the APC of sponsoring thugs to disrupt the election by making police uniforms for them to wear with masks to disrupt the results that might favour them. “Only recently, a chieftain of the APC wore one of those uniforms, and the police even presented a defense for such wanton display of impersonation,” the commissioner stated.
“Having confirmed that they cannot win in Okpella, Lampese, Fugar, Ibillo, and Agenebode, the APC has concluded plans to use thugs veiled in those masks and police uniforms which they produced to disrupt the electoral process and intimidate voters in those areas.
He also alleged that the federal government has planned to withdraw “all the security officials attached to the State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, to leave him without protection and render him vulnerable as we head into the election as well as on Election Day”.
