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The main opposition party in Edo State, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Governor Godwin Obaseki have disagreed over allegations that the governor is planning to rig the September 21 governorship poll using fake security personnel.
Specifically, the APC Campaign Council, in a statement by its Media Consultant, Mr. Kassim Afegbua, accused Governor Obaseki of plotting to use the state security group, Edo State Security Network, ESSN, by producing police and army uniforms to be worn on election day by his agents.
In a swift response, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, Special Adviser, Media Projects to Governor Obaseki, described the allegations as infantile, saying that the APC was afraid of looming defeat and resorted to cooking up lies.
The APC Campaign claimed that there was a meeting in the Edo State Government House where an offer was allegedly made to some persons who turned it down, adding that signs of these plots were already on with the attacks on members of the party in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area and Ewohimi after APC’s campaigns a few days ago.
The statement read: “We have been inundated with calls from well meaning Edo electorate of his game plan to use threat, intimidation and harassment to disenfranchise Edo electorate from exercising their right at the elections.
"We had decried before, the State Government’s activities concerning arms procurement. 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 and Military uniforms, which the members of the Edo Security Network will be made to wear on the 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.
“By this statement, we are appealing to the military authority as well as the Nigeria Police, particularly the Inspector General of Police to please come and rescue Edo State, immediately. "We urge these authorities to commission their men to carry out investigations concerning these serious allegations in order to act appropriately, and forestall the breakdown of law and order in Edo State.”
But refuting that allegation, Osagie said, “The rambling is just another failed attempt to mislead the public and distract from their own devious plan to rig the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State having realised that they have lost favour with the people and cannot win in a free and fair contest.
“Who has been boasting of federal might since the start of the campaigns, harassing and intimidating innocent citizens of the state and members of the opposition? 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.
“They are jittery over their impending loss after presenting an unlettered and incompetent candidate for the office of a governor and have now resorted to machiavellian tactics to subvert the will of Edo people, and have perfected these plans and now want to shift attention to other people so as to freely implement their evil plan.
“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.”
