APC Plans to Use Postponement to Perfect Rigging Plans for Edo Election, Says Orbih

Jessica Odemwingie

The state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of planning to use the period of the postponement of the Edo State governorship election to perfect their rigging plan seeing that there is no way the APC can win in a free and fair contest.

At a press conference he addressed at the state PDP Secretariat in Benin City, Chief Orbih stated that the APC was planning to influence the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to adopt the manual accreditation of voters as against the use of the card reader. The state PDP chairman said that towards this end, there is the plan to make the card readers not to function.

Orbih also accused the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and his agents of instigating the mass arrest of PDP leaders and members by the police before September 28 so as to bring down the morale of the party members and its supporters.

He alleged that the arrests and intimidation had since commenced. Chief Orbih displayed a letter of invitation from the police to a party leader, claiming an investigation into his conduct that could lead to a security breach. He said this was a pattern that is being adopted to harass PDP members to submission.

Orbih also said as part of the plan to intimidate uncompromising influential members of the party, the state governor and his agents have sent violent thugs after them.

He stated that the PDP has recorded casualties with members sustaining various degrees of injury from gunshots. He displayed photographs of some members who were allegedly attacked.

Speaking further, Orbih alleged that as part of the grand plan to rig the rescheduled election, the state governor through his highly influential contact at INEC is planning to replace all the Electoral Officers in Edo State with Electoral Officers from APC controlled states.

While thanking Edo people whose resolve to change the APC has put the ruling party on edge, he assured them that the PDP would do everything legally possible to ensure that their votes for the PDP in the September election count. Chief Orbih stated that the PDP would resist all attempts by the ruling party to rig the election.

Answering questions about the allegations made by Governor Adams Oshiomhole that the PDP received N2 billion from a PDP governor and that it registered eight thousand militants from the neighbouring states, Orbih said there was no truth in the allegations.
He challenged the governor to show proof of such financial transaction as two billion naira is not an amount that you can move around in cash.

He also stated that it was an indictment of the security agencies for the governor to claim that eight thousand armed men had moved into the state to disrupt the election. He said that the governor was only showing signs of desperation knowing that the people have rejected the APC.

to achieve the overall objective of the exercise.

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