Some politicians and contestants in the forthcoming election in Edo State have raised the alarm over alleged manipulation of the result of the ad hoc delegate list allegedly by the government.
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged that some powerful people in government have sent their own list to the national chairman in Abuja for his approval. He alleged that the list authenticated by the Independent National Electoral Commission was dropped by the individuals because of their personal interests.
According to the source, the individuals who are already planning to dump the PDP for the Labour Party, LP, are concerned only about imposing their candidates on the party and retaining the majority seats even after dumping the PDP.
The source said:
“And the National Chairman wants to adopt the list of delegates not monitored and signed by INEC.”
He went further to disclose that the national chairman, despite being aware that the list is not the authentic one, is ready to put his signature.
The source argued that once that happens, it will deprive the party the opportunity of retaining the majority seat in Edo State Assembly.
According to him, the national leadership of the party needs to intervene now that the issue has been escalated.
He alleged that a meeting of all aspirants had been called where candidates would be forced to step down. He alleged that money would exchange hands in the process and videos would be recorded to show that the candidates willingly stepped down.
When asked if Governor Obaseki was aware of the development, the source told our correspondent to do an independent finding.
Edo PDP speaks
When Legit.ng reached out to Hillary Otsu, the PDP state’s secretary, he confirmed the development and also confirmed the alleged involvement of Governor Godwin Obaseki.
According to him, the new list was sent from the government house.
Expressing fears that Edo PDP is about to witness a serious crisis never witnessed in the state before, Otsu said:
“We did all we could in the last congress according to the constitution of the party; myself and the organizing secretary; in fact, the entire working committee because we had several meetings before that exercise, but to my surprise, we have been hearing this story.”
“But what has now buttressed the story is that on the day of the exercise when all the returning officers which we sent out to the wards to conduct the congresses returned to submit their results, the committee sent from Abuja was nowhere to be found. They came to the secretariat, spent about 5 minutes and left. Till we speak, we haven’t seen them. So we collated all the results; me and the legal adviser.”
Giving further details on what is going on in the party, he said:
” What we heard is that they were given a list from the government house by the governor to take to Abuja. A list that was not collated from any congress centre.
So as we speak, that is what I know.”
Warning of an impending crisis, the PDP secretary said:
“I hope that the national chairman desists from any such act because if he goes to approve such a list, we are going to throw Edo State into what Zamfara State experienced two years ago.”
But several calls put across to the Special Adviser Media to the governor, Crusoe Osagie went unanswered even as the text message sent to him got no reply.