Edo State Government has charged the All Progressives Congress (APC) of resorting to violence ahead of the state governorship election as it’s jittery of impending loss at the poll.
In a Press Statement from the Government House signed by Chris Nehikhare, the Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, he averred that “Okpebholo, the candidate of the APC is and will remain a bad sell and Edo people will not allow themselves to be ruled by a dunce who has vowed to provide the state with insecurity, when one of their best minds, Dr. Asue Ighodalo is on the ballot.
“Edo people will come out in their numbers to vote for the PDP and its candidate on September 21, and there is nothing APC and Afegbua can do about it. They will be startled out of daydream when the news of their woeful defeat hits them like a tonne of bricks.”
Nehikhare said the APC “who know they cannot win the forthcoming September 21 governorship election in a free and fair contest having presented a lacklustre and absolutely tepid candidate and have resorted to campaigns of calumny and stirring crisis and violence in the State to perfect their devious rigging plot.”
He stated that “the vile and inflammatory comments” being made by the APC “are not only condescending and disdainful but also an insult to the sensibilities of the Edo people. Were it possible for the government to pursue legal action for libel, Kassim Afegbua should be in court to substantiate these baseless and spurious allegations.
“Is it not interesting how the APC and Afegbua have taken their time to explain to Edo people their plans to cause chaos, stir crisis and undermine security in the State, and make a show of accusing the PDP of the same?
“Pray tell who has been planning to resort to violence to win the elections? Who has been boasting of federal might since the start of the campaigns? Whose thugs besieged Airport Road causing mayhem and disorderliness that led to the death of a Police Officer? Who has used the Police to harass supporters of the PDP in the last few weeks? It has been the APC all along.”
The Commissioner going further, stressed, “at least ten PDP leaders, including a local government chairman and operatives of the State Vigilante Network, have been whisked away to Abuja. Some have spent up to two months in police detention without being charged to court, in clear violation of their fundamental human rights.
“The APC are only jittery over their impending loss and are now deploying all sorts of Machiavellian tactics to avert the will of the people and get to Osadebey Avenue. But they must know that the election is already a lost cause for them.”
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