The chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign council for the Edo governorship election, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to stoke up violence that will compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to suspend the Edo State governorship election till November.
Wike made this claim in Port Harcourt on Monday and revealed that the council also had credible intelligence of plans to use security agencies to rig the September 19 election.
The Rivers state governor explained that the APC had concluded plans to capitalise on the assertion of the INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, that the commission would stop the election in the event of violence, by creating an atmosphere for mayhem.
“That was why they went ahead to illegally inaugurate their own speaker of the House of Assembly. They are not interested in the election. All they are interested in is violence, so that INEC will cancel or suspend the election, and then we will wait till November when Governor Godwin Obaseki’s tenure would have ended.
“We know this system. Knowing well that if the election is suspended by September 19, according to them as regards to violence, they cannot do that election again in September. October is Ondo election, so they will give excuse that they are conducting Ondo election. By November, Obaseki’s tenure would have ended. So you see the calculation,” Wike said.
Tensions have been building in several parts of Edo state in the last few weeks as the September election draws near. The incumbent, Godwin Obaseki is seeking a second term in office. His challenger, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was the candidate of the PDP in the 2016 race.
Supremacy battle between Obaseki and his godfather, Adams Oshiomhole, former APC chairman saw Obaseki move to opposition PDP while Ize-Iyamu, switched to APC where with Oshiomhole’s backing, he picked the party’s guber ticket.
