- Edo 2024: APC’s Desperation Grows As Party Resorts To Violence To Rig Polls”
The Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare has berated the Media Consultant to the Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Council, Kassim Afegbua, for his remarks which he described as spurious and outlandish, adding that the Edo APC is Jittery of impending loss and hence it is resorting to violence to cause apathy with a view to rigging the coming Edo governorship election.
Nehikhare made the remarks in a press briefing earlier today in Benin City.
According to him, the APC is incapable of winning the coming governorship polls hence it has been boasting of using the federal government might to rig the election.
“Our attention has been drawn to an infantile, reckless, and utterly baseless statement by the Media Consultant to the Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Council, Kassim Afegbua, in which he made a number of condescending, spurious and outlandish accusations.
“The tissue of well-worded falsehoods are products of the overactive imaginations of the APC and their media lackey 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.
“The vile and inflammatory comments 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.
Going further, he accused the APC of deploying unconventional tactics to stop the will of Edo people in the coming governorship polls adding that so many members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been incarcerated unjustifiably.
According to him, ” 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.
He therefore urged the police and other security agencies to shun any act capable of compromising the ethical conduct of their professional line of duty.
“We use this opportunity to call on the police and other security agencies to conduct themselves professionally as we approach the elections and ensure that they maintain law and order which is their constitutional responsibility.
Speaking of the postponement of resumption of schools in the state, Nehikhare pointed out that the decision was made in the interest of the safety of the school children.
“Regarding the postponement of school reopening across the State, we want to restate that the decision was made in the interest of the safety of our children. We have credible information that the APC has been recruiting thugs, buying guns, and arming their infantry to wreak havoc and cause mayhem in the State for their selfish political gains ahead of the September 21 elections.
“A case in hand is the recent incident involving one Agbor, a member of APC in Ekperi, Etsako Central Local Government Area of the State and his thugs, who shot at an innocent man for refusing to wear their campaign caps. Despite this clear act of violence, no action has been taken, and Agbor is said to be currently hiding in the premises of Philip Shaibu, the sacked deputy governor, for protection.
“The safety of our children is paramount, and we want to reassure our parents and reiterate that beyond Monday and Tuesday being public holidays, there will be no learning losses, as any missed classes will be made up subsequently.
Nehikhare called on the general public to be wary as the election was just a few days away.
“The election is just a few days away, we expect more distractive tactics from the APC. So we want to call on the public to be wary of their campaign strategy. The party has absolutely nothing to offer to the people.
“The fact remains 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”.
