APC, PDP trade words as Edo indigenes head to polls
Wed Sep 28, 2016 12:21:pm Politics
3.1K By Buchi Obichie
Just as the indigenes of Edo State gear up to head to the polls today to
elect a new Governor, the two major political parties have gotten
involved in a war of words against themselves.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Tuesday accused the All Prorgessives Congress, APC administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and the electoral umpire of allegedly inducing election supervisors to compromise the outcome of the poll in nine out of the 18 Local Government Areas.
Speaking with journalists in Benin, the Edo State capital, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chris Nehikhare, said the party had received information of an alleged distribution of N2m by a senior official of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to the supervisors on behalf of the State Government.
Nehikhare, who also alleged that the results of the affected areas had "been written", ready for announcement on Wednesday (today), vowed that the PDP and its supporters would resist with "the last drop of their blood" any attempt to switch election results.
He said, "It has come to our attention that INEC and the State Government have seriously compromised the election that is going to take place tomorrow (Wednesday). People involved in this conspiracy are those that have leaked this information to the PDP and to us to act very fast.
"She (the accused INEC official) has been sharing N2m to supervisors in at least nine Local Government Areas of Edo State.
"What they have done is that they have written results for the nine Local Government (areas) on behalf of the APC. These results are being held by the supervisors and the collation officers at a point where they plan to switch the results with the real ones at the local government level once the election is done."
However, the allegations made by the PDP were denied by the Edo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Kassim Afegbua.
He said, "There is nothing like that. They should go and face their election and forget all these issues of name-calling and making false allegations."
Also, the state Chairman of the APC, Anselm Ojezua, described the claim as a figment of the imagination of the PDP.
Ojezua said, "That is a figment of their own imagination. They have lost the election already. I'm the state Chairman of the APC. I have been in my home area for three days. So, what time will I have to go and talk about bribing INEC?
"If anything at all, it is the PDP people that know the INEC people. After all, most of these INEC officers were employed during the PDP government. We have trained our agents and they are determined to be very vigilant.
"The truth is that all the plans the PDP made to create havoc in Edo State have virtually failed. All the efforts they have made to manipulate the process have also failed. They can now see that there is nothing other than the true transparent process that will give us result in this election."
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Tuesday accused the All Prorgessives Congress, APC administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and the electoral umpire of allegedly inducing election supervisors to compromise the outcome of the poll in nine out of the 18 Local Government Areas.
Speaking with journalists in Benin, the Edo State capital, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chris Nehikhare, said the party had received information of an alleged distribution of N2m by a senior official of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to the supervisors on behalf of the State Government.
Nehikhare, who also alleged that the results of the affected areas had "been written", ready for announcement on Wednesday (today), vowed that the PDP and its supporters would resist with "the last drop of their blood" any attempt to switch election results.
He said, "It has come to our attention that INEC and the State Government have seriously compromised the election that is going to take place tomorrow (Wednesday). People involved in this conspiracy are those that have leaked this information to the PDP and to us to act very fast.
"She (the accused INEC official) has been sharing N2m to supervisors in at least nine Local Government Areas of Edo State.
"What they have done is that they have written results for the nine Local Government (areas) on behalf of the APC. These results are being held by the supervisors and the collation officers at a point where they plan to switch the results with the real ones at the local government level once the election is done."
However, the allegations made by the PDP were denied by the Edo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Kassim Afegbua.
He said, "There is nothing like that. They should go and face their election and forget all these issues of name-calling and making false allegations."
Also, the state Chairman of the APC, Anselm Ojezua, described the claim as a figment of the imagination of the PDP.
Ojezua said, "That is a figment of their own imagination. They have lost the election already. I'm the state Chairman of the APC. I have been in my home area for three days. So, what time will I have to go and talk about bribing INEC?
"If anything at all, it is the PDP people that know the INEC people. After all, most of these INEC officers were employed during the PDP government. We have trained our agents and they are determined to be very vigilant.
"The truth is that all the plans the PDP made to create havoc in Edo State have virtually failed. All the efforts they have made to manipulate the process have also failed. They can now see that there is nothing other than the true transparent process that will give us result in this election."
Related News
Leave a comment...