Director of Contact and Mobilisation in the Diaspora of Labour Party (LP) and President of the One Love Foundation, Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor, has cautioned security agents assigned to secure Edo State on Saturday, March 11, 2023, when election into the State House of Assembly would be held not to allow themselves to be bought over by the state Governor Godwin Obaseki to teleguide the process in favour of his preferred candidates.
In an exclusive chat with Popular News he said: “We hear that Governor Godwin Obaseki is planning on how to bribe some security agents on election duty on Saturday, March 11th, just the way Governor Nyesom Wike did in the Presidential and National Assembly election of February 25th.
“Edo no be Lagos and Rivers State no be Benin. We(Edo people) are brave men. This state is the heartbeat of the nation. Edo people are warriors and we cannot be intimidated. We are pleading that next Saturday’s election must be free and fair. If they go the wrong way there will be an adverse reaction.
“We are advising the security agents to stay away from politics. They’re here to guarantee safety and security of lives and properties. INEC officials must be told that enough is enough. If they steal our votes once again we will steal from them more than what they stole from us.”
On rumour flying around town that there are plans to impeach Governor Obaseki, Eholor responded thus: “The wicked ones cannot go scot free. It is not what we of the Labour Party are discussing. I want to make that clear. We are not part of that. Our focus is to win the House of Assembly election convincingly. We want to populate the assembly chambers with our candidates who will represent their constituencies robustly.
“We are going to mobilise our people to use their PVCs to vote massively for our party candidates across the state. By doing this we are going to have genuine members of the House of Assembly. What we have noticed is that in the past the assembly men were mere rubberstamps. Obaseki in this last dispensation was punishing 14 constituencies denying them from having good representation and development.
“What a wicked governor. A man who hides under the guise of democrat but is actually a dictator. The people have realised this and they are going to give him a red card on Saturday. It is known that Obaseki and his predecessor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who are birds of the same feather, have been fighting each other for survival. We are going to watch them fight in the market square.
“There is going to be a big surprise in the forthcoming election. Just wait for the outcome as LP leads the way.
Speaking on the eleventh hour meetings with different stakeholders whereby Governor Obaseki has been pleading for support/votes for his preferred candidates for the House of Assembly, the rights activist said: “Why would Obaseki at this last hour be on his knees pleading for votes from the people. If he had done well for the people they’re the ones that will be promising to support him immensely.”
His words of encouragement to his party faithfuls: “When you are Obidient you know what to do. Even obedient is in the Bible. If you’re Obidient you respect yourself just as you respect others. You live and let others live.”
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