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Udeze Ekene
Guest
The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has decried alleged plans to rig the Saturday governorship election in the state in favour of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Monday Okpebholo.
Governor Obaseki admitted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Asue Ighodalo, are not unaware of the plot to rig the governorship election.
Speaking on Wednesday with Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, Obaseki accused the Police of compromise by allowing the APC candidate to campaign with Police Helicopter.
He further alleged that his government provided police intelligence on how the opposition imported arms and thugs into the state. He, however, regretted that the police failed to act on the intelligence.
Obaseki reiterated that he wants a free and fair election where the citizens of the state would determine the next governor of the state.
The Governor of Edo State said, “Some of the actors in the political scene do not seem to understand the national security implication of this Edo election. And the way some people have conducted themselves, I’m sorry to say, it’s quite unbecoming of people who have sworn to oath of offices in this country.
“Politicians will behave the way they like, but members of the security agencies should give the public assurances and confidence. We are saying, let Edo citizens be free to go to the polls and express themselves the way they wish.
“But when you have a situation where citizens are being intimidated by people in uniform, last night some people woke me up at 3 a.m. There were policemen in Edo Central trying to still arrest people last night. I got a call this morning again about the Siena bus at the Area Office with the mandate to come and pick up people who were carried out of this state.
“They were detained in Abuja on the instructions of the Inspector General of Police for more than two weeks. And when we confronted the IG in Benin during the peace session, which we refused to sign, he claimed that he had arrested people for murder. When he finally was forced to charge them to court, they charged possession of firearms.”
Obaseki continued, “And as I speak, you have people, you have citizens in Suleja, in Niger State, being detained because they don’t want them to participate in elections on Saturday. When you create situations like this, what it results to is just lack of trust, lack of confidence. When the opposition candidate is campaigning with a police helicopter in the state, I don’t think it’s a fair or level playing field. It’s not right.
“We receive a lot of intelligence. But when we pass them on to the authorities we’re supposed to, we don’t get the feedback. We have intelligence of arms movement into the state. We have intelligence of thugs being housed in certain hotels and on and on. We’re not saying we are innocent. In a political season like this, it’s one of contestation. But we don’t want it to lead to loss of lives because it is totally unnecessary.”
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