29th August, 2024
By Jethro Ibileke
Ahead of the 21 September governorship election in Edo, the APC Campaign Council said it has “exposed criminal plans” by Governor Godwin Obaseki to use the Edo State Security Network (ESSN) to rig the election.
The Media Director of the APC Campaign Council, Prince Kassim Afegbua, stated this in a statement he issued on Thursday in Benin.
He alleged that the ESN was set up by Governor Obaseki as a decoy to violently subvert the will of Edo people before, during and after the governorship election.
According to Afegbua, the 11,000-strong armed group were caught during the week verbally directing members to cleverly hide their guns from the eagle eyes of the Nigeria Police and other security forces.
He said: “In three of such disclosures in one of their WhatsApp groups, the government’s evil plans to violently rig the election were busted.
“One of the voice notes directed members to hide their arms and ammunition for fear of arrest, while another stated that in the event of any arrest, there should be resistance.
“Yet, another indicated that should they mount roadblocks or stop-and- search operations, they should ensure that not less than five personnel are involved.”
Not done, Afegbua advised “those who appropriate and approximate power in a drunken manner as if they own the universe”, that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
“We have repeatedly stated that no matter how coded and discret Governor Obaseki’s plans are, we will continuously decode his plans. We will continue to expose his lies, devilish plans and dubious plots to the public in the face of desperation to make Asue Ighodalo to succeed him.
“We have more information than he understands. We have also given out some of his plans to the relevant authority to act in good time to prevent bloodbath which he’s planning during the election.
“We will continue to alert the public of Governor Obaseki’s evil plot to shortchange the electorates in the coming election. While the APC is busy campaigning to woo voters we have seen the PDP engage in dubious and devilish plots to subvert the will of the people.
“Those voice notes that are in the public domain are copious evidence of their plots to rig the election using the Edo Security Network as the gambit.
“We are calling on our members, stakeholders and members of the Public to continue their vigilance as September 21st draws near. We will continue to expose Governor Obaseki and his annointed godson on their plots to deny Edo people the right to elect their chosen candidate. Let them use code, sign language, “echo-Charlie” and other visuals, we will continue to intercept them and alert the public.
“September 21st election MUST be free, fair and credible to allow Edo people the opportunity to make their informed choices. We are calling on the Inspector General of Police to please act in good time to save people from avoidable bloodbaths which the Edo Governor seems to have sworn to adopt,” Afegbua said.
As at the time of filing this report, the Coordinator of ESSN, Col. Kole Omomia (rtd) could not be reached on his mobile phone for reaction.
It would however be remembered that the Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on media project, Crusoe Osagie while reacting to a similar allegation by Afegbua, alleged that the APC was afraid of defeat, hence it cooks up lies to veil their own plans to rig the electjon.
“The infantile statement by the Media Consultant to Edo All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Council, Kassim Afegbua, in which he made spurious allegations about plans to rig the September 21 governorship election, should be disregarded as a cocktail of complete falsehood.
“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,” Osagie had said.
