Edo election showdown: Obaseki’s aide alleges APC fears defeat, plots to rig polls

By Jethro Ibileke

The Special Adviser (Media Project) to Edo State Governor, Crusoe Osagie, has stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is afraid of defeat in the forthcoming governorship election in the State.

Osagie stated this in reaction to the Director of the party’s media campaign council, Prince Kassim Afegbua, who alleged that Governor Governor Obaseki was making clandestine moves to rig the election.

Afegbua had in a statement on Tuesday raised the alarm over alleged plots to rig the “election using his illegal Edo Security Network as a gambit.”

Reacting to the allegations, Osagie described them as “another failed attempt to mislead the public and distract from their own devious plan to rig the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State, having realized that they have lost favour with the people and cannot win in a free and fair contest.”

He added: “Does anyone need answers to why the APC in Edo State has been relentless in their campaign of calumny against the State’s Security and Vigilante Network in the run-up to the gubernatorial elections and why they want to by all means discredit and disable the intelligence gathering scheme, which security agencies in the State have confirmed their role in combating crime and criminality, especially in the grassroots?

“They are jittery over their impending loss after presenting an unlettered and incompetent candidate for the office of a governor and have now resorted to Machiavellian tactics to subvert the will of Edo people and have perfected these plans and now want to shift attention to other people so as to freely implement their evil plan.

“We call on the authorities to place their eyes on Afegbua and the APC because what they are accusing others of is exactly what they are planning to do themselves. This tactic of accusing others of their own devious plot is a strategy that the APC is well known for, and the people of Edo State are too wise to be fooled by vain subterfuge.

“We call on the police, the military, and other security agencies to please have all hands on deck to ensure a level playing field, guaranteeing a free, fair, and credible election in Edo State.”