Edo Elections: Governor Obaseki Raises Alarm Over PDP Chieftains’ Arrests, Urges Presidential Intervention to Prevent Chaos, Appeals to International Community

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has sent a Save-Our-Soul distress message to the Nigeria’s presidency and the international community over what he alleged was “the mayhem” being orchestrated by actors within the All Progressives Congress, (APC) in Edo State “to undermine the will of Edo people and thwart their right to freely exercise their franchise” in the September 21 governorship election in the state.

Governor Obaseki raised the alarm in the face of alleged hounding and arrests of members of his ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state by the police allegedly in cahoots with the APC in Abuja.

In a personally signed statement on Tuesday, the governor said in the last few weeks, “the Police under the manipulation of the APC, has arrested not less than 10 PDP chieftains who they perceive would be strong political opposition to them in the coming election”. He said, “This came to a head with the arrest and whisking to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, of the serving Chairman of Esan West Local Government Area, Hon. Collins Aigbogun”.

The statement, entitled ‘Need To Prevent Avoidable Crisis in the Coming Edo State Governorship Election’, said while the PDP had ensured “civility, fair play and equity in the electoral campaigns” with everyone given a freehand to campaign and canvass for votes from the electorate without let, “Conversely, however, there have been persistent and continuous provocative actions sponsored by the opposition APC to stir crisis in Edo State in pursuit of their selfish ends.

“A case in point is the continuous harassment of chieftains of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by the Nigerian Police Force. Leaders of the PDP are being hounded and attacked with the ultimate goal of causing chaos and setting the stage to subvert the will of the people”.

Calling on all stakeholders to intervene promptly “to prevent the state from teetering on the precipice of chaos by ensuring a free, fair and credible election in Edo State”, Governor Obaseki said “This potential crisis has unravelled early enough for everyone to take action”.

Expressing his frustrations, the governor explained that on learning of the arrest of the local government chairman, he reached out to the Edo State Commissioner of Police, asking that due process be followed and that the matter be handled within the state’s jurisdiction, but “This directive was flouted, directly undermining my authority as the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the State”.

He said the government also had on good authority “that a rogue police team” had been provided with a long list of PDP chieftains to be arrested and detained until after the election, adding that “All petitions and appeals to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) have not dissuaded men of the Police from going about with the mandate of intimidating members of the PDP and launching sting operations to capture, kidnap and lock up PDP chieftains across the state”.

He concluded that “It is now clear to us that the APC and its agents are not interested in a peaceful and credible election in Edo State. The conduct and the collusion with federal government institutions to undermine the electoral process spells a clear danger that must be averted.

“We are therefore using this opportunity to stress that this posture and stance is a recipe for disaster and crisis and would invariably lead to chaos in the state if not checked”.

Seriously warning that “Edo people are going to stand firmly and defend their state against all forms of manipulative and imperialistic tendencies from APC leaders in Abuja or elsewhere”, the governor posited that “Edo people are known to stand boldly for forthrightness, justice and equity, and will kick against all forms of intimidation and subterfuge”.

Consequently, the governor demanded the immediate unconditional release of the PDP chieftains “who were arrested in gestapo style by the Police and whisked to secret holding centres”, adding that “If these PDP leaders were legally arrested, we demand that they should be charged to courts in Benin City to answer for whatever infractions they are alleged to have committed and not to be subjected to perpetual incarceration, as now obtains”.

Furthermore more, Governor Obaseki said “I want to implore the Presidency to call the Police and leaders of the APC to order over the manner in which they have been conducting themselves in the lead up to the election.

“We also call on the international community, including the American Embassy, the British High Commission, the European Union and other embassies and international development organisations present in Nigeria, to take note of the warning signs coming from Edo State and identify the people to be held accountable for the mayhem that is being orchestrated by actors within the APC to undermine the will of Edo people and thwart their right to freely exercise their franchise in the coming election

“This potential crisis has unravelled early enough for everyone to take action. We call on all stakeholders to intervene promptly to prevent the state from teetering on the precipice of chaos by ensuring a free, fair and credible election in Edo State”.