Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-city
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged plans by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to arrest its leaders over staged kidnappings in the state.
The Chairman of the APC Media Campaign Council, John Mayaki, had raised the alarm in a statement issued yesterday, alleging that the governor and the PDP are concluding plans to fake the kidnap of some identified PDP members across the state and blame the APC for their disappearance.
But the PDP, through its state Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, denied the allegation, querying if the APC is in PDP to know what it is planning regarding the election.
According to the APC Media Campaign Council in a statement issued Mayaki yesterday in Benin-city, Obaseki is already intimidating the police to join in the plot by arresting and remanding APC leaders over the staged kidnappings, to prevent them from continuing their grassroots mobilisation of voters.
The statement read: “We have been made aware of plans by Obaseki, and his party, the PDP, to stage kidnappings of some of their members across the state and blame the APC for their disappearance.
“We have confidentially obtained the list of some PDP members penned for the fake kidnappings in Edo South senatorial district and the proposed cash allowance the governor is offering them in exchange for their cooperation in the reprehensible plot.”
“We are also aware that Obaseki is already mounting pressure on the police to play along in this shameful plot. He has requested that they commence arrest of our leaders across the state and keep them in detention over the fake abduction just to keep them out of circulation and prevent them from continuing their grassroots mobilisation of voters.”
In his reaction, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Nehikhare, denied the allegation, describing it as laughable.
He said: “APC is always coming up with what PDP is planning, are they in PDP to know what PDP is planning? Are they part of the plan, how did they get this information that PDP wants to stage-manage kidnaps? It is the cry of a drowning man; APC is drowning and it is coming up with all manner of narratives to fill up media spaces.
“Their campaign is a failure, their message is not being listened to by Edo people, so they think that by raising the alarm and trying to cause chaos in the state, the election can be postponed because that is what they desire to get. If they don’t have anything to say, I think the media should ignore them.”
