The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has alleged that its rival, All Progressives Congress (APC) is planning to subvert the forthcoming Edo State governorship election holding on Saturday, September 19, 2020.
In a statement by Chris Osa Nehikhare, the PDP state party chairman raised the alarm that the APC leader in Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was plotting to deploy private jets and helicopters to move money from Lagos to Edo State to rig the poll in favour of the APC.
He recalled that Edo electorate was on Tuesday awakened to a vexatious broadcast by Tinubu, in which he insulted the intelligence of all Edo people by asking them to overlook the developmental strides made by the candidate of the PDP Governor Obaseki.
According to the statement: “We have it on good authority that Tinubu, working in cahoots with the leadership of the APC in Edo State, has gone a step further from the inciting broadcast by sending down helicopters and private jets loaded with money in an attempt to buy our state and annex it as a part of his fiefdom.
We want the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), observers and other stakeholders in the electoral process to take note of this move and ensure necessary actions are taken to avert the sinister plot to subvert the will of Edo people come Saturday, September, 19.
“Edo people are, by this notice, alerted to the plot to trample on their power of choice and lock them in perpetual servitude to the whims and caprices of a Godfather in Lagos.
“Come this Saturday, we urge our people to send a strong and unequivocal message to the Godfather in Lagos and his minions in our state that we are still the same people that fought off slave masters and charted a course for ourselves as the Midwestern Region.
“The candidate of our party, Governor Obaseki, who has the popular support of the people will be re-elected by the people on Saturday and there is nothing the Lagos godfather and the wannabe godfather in Edo can do about it, no matter the number of money they haul in from Lagos. Edo people will take their money and re-elect Obaseki.
“They will re-elect the governor because he and his deputy, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu have in the last four years engendered unparalleled development in the state, which has resulted in a robust well-motivated civil service, a restructured economic base anchored on agriculture, energy, mining investments, among others, and set the template for prosperity.
“We also want to use this medium to call on the National Electricity Regulatory Company (NERC) to sanction Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), if they go ahead with orders issued by the management, which is in bed with the APC, to cut off power supply to the collation centres across the state at critical times on Saturday, September 19, with a view to compromise the election.
“We are alerting BEDC and its management that we are aware of their plot and Edo people would vehemently resist the role of cooperates in attempting to undermine their will in this election.
“In this light, we urge Edo people to re-elect Governor Godwin Obaseki and his running mate, Rt. Hon. Comrade Shaibu, by voting for the PDP on Saturday. Obaseki is the only candidate that has been adopted by both the PDP and the APC in the state.
“From all indications, it is only the Edo Peoples Movement (EPM), an unregistered political group, that is fielding an unpopular candidate in the guise of the APC in the election.
“Edo electorates are all encouraged to troop out en-masse to vote as the election would be peaceful, free and credible.”
