… calls on NERC to sanction BEDC over scheme to compromise power supply to collation centres
… charges Edo electorate to reject pretend-APC candidate, Ize-Iyamu
Edo State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by a former Governor of Lagos State and Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to deploy private jets and helicopters to move money from Lagos to Edo State for the purpose of rigging the Saturday September 19 gubernatorial election, in favor of the APC.
In a statement in Benin City on Thursday, State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chris Osa Nehikhare, who spoke on behalf of the state PDP Campaign Council, said, “We once again bring to the notice of the general public, lovers of democracy and other stakeholders in the forthcoming Edo State governorship election holding on Saturday, September 19, 2020, a plot by the All Progressives Congress and the leader of the party in Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to deploy private jets and helicopters to move money from Lagos to Edo State to rig the poll in favour of the APC.”
He also called on the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (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.”
On the plot to rig the election with monies flown in from Lagos, he said, “Edo electorate were on Tuesday awaken to a vexatious broadcast by Tinubu, where he insulted the intelligence of all Edo people by asking them to overlook the developmental strides made by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and governor, and hand him the treasury of the state to extend his empire to our dear state.
“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.”
He called on the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), observers and other stakeholders in the electoral process to take note of the move and ensure necessary actions are taken to avert the sinister plot to subvert the will of Edo people, come Saturday, September, 19.
According to him, “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.
Noting that the plot by the management of the BEDC to rig the election will not be tolerated, he said, “We are alerting BEDC and its management that we are aware of their plot and Edo people would vehemently resist the role of corporates 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 electorate are all encouraged to troop out en-masse to vote as the election would be peaceful, free and credible.”
