Assembly poll not free, fair in Edo, PDP

…Accuses army of intimidation

Titus Akhigbe, Benin

With the All Progressives Congress (APC) winning all the 24 House of Assembly seats in Edo state, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the results, insisting that the polls were not free and fair.

State Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, who spoke with journalists in Benin, said that the massive deployment of armed soldiers to intimidate voters to support APC candidates, is an indication that democracy is under serious threat in the country.

Unlike former President Goodluck Jonathan, who conducted free and fair elections in 2015 and handed over power to President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, Orbih said that Saturday’s election was the worst since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

He alerted Nigerians of an impending dictatorship under Buhari, advising that people must rise up and resist before it gets too late.

He said: “The result did not reflect the wishes of Edo people. The House of Assembly election fell short of a free and fair election. Soldiers were deployed to intimidate voters.

What happened last Saturday was akin to a military coup. Nigerians must speak out against an impending dictatorship by the APC -led federal government.”

Orbih, who was silent on whether the party had instructed the different candidates to approach the election petitions tribunal to seek redress, was however, thanked God that there was no reported killings in the state despite pockets of violence at some polling units.

The PDP state chairman added that it was surprising that the party which won the majority votes during the February 23 polls, had four House of Representatives and two out the three senatorial seats in Edo could not manage to win any of the 24 House of Assembly seats.

As a way out, the Edo PDP chairman remarked that there should be a constitutional amendment so that all the elections from the state Houses of Assembly to the National Assembly, governorship and presidential be held same day.

“All it will take the Independent National Electoral Commission (IÑEC) is to increase the number of ballot papers to five instead of three by including, the governorship and state Houses of Assembly to the presidential, House of Representatives and Senate. Once this is done, elections will be held in one day. It will even be cheaper,” he added.