Outcome of LG polls reaffirms PDP dominance in Edo, says Obaseki

LP accuses gov of staging pre-arranged PDP winners
Advocates INEC-managed LG polls

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said that the performance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Saturday’s local council election in the state shows the party’s dominance, noting that the outcome of the election is a reflection of the wish of the majority of Edo people.

Obaseki spoke to journalists at the Diocese of Benin (Anglican Communion), St. Peter’s Anglican Church, during the 15th memorial thanksgiving service of his father, late Pa Roland Oni Obaseki.

The governor was in the company of the Secretary to Edo State Government, Osarodion Ogie, and Oredo Council Chairman-elect, Dr. Tom Obaseki, among other top government functionaries.

Obaseki, who was elated over the outcome of the council election, said Edo people are democratically mature, as there was no violence recorded during the process.

He said: “We had a situation room where we monitored the election process across the state. We want to thank the people. You can see that we are democratically mature in the state in terms of the way the election was conducted.

“I was surprised at the diligence of the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC).”

MEANWHILE, National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, has accused PDP under the Obaseki government of organising a shoddy council election.

He said the EDSIEC only stage-managed prearranged council elections to favour PDP candidates.

A statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, quoted Abure, who described the election as another sad testimony of how a state government can descend so low in attempting to rubbish the gains of democracy.

According to him, democracy can only succeed when authorities allow votes of the people to count and the choice of the voters respected.

“Reports from our agents across most of the polling units in the state confirmed that there was deliberate effort by EDSIEC to frustrate voters by ensuring that the electoral officers either came late to the polling units or didn’t show up at all.

“In a few places where the election was held, insufficient ballot papers were brought with no single result sheet. But at the end of the day, results were churned out with candidates of PDP being returned as elected.