Following allegations of irregularities, Comrade Edwin Omoregie, Labour Party (LP) chairmanship candidate for Ovia North East local government area, thirteen councilorship candidates and the leadership of the party in the area on Tuesday called for the cancellation of the just concluded local government council election in the state for a fresh election.
The aggrieved politicians described last Saturday’s election in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates were declared winners in the 18 local government areas across the state as shambolic.
The protesters further described the election as a charade, alleging that there were no elections but were surprised that results were announced and purported winners sworn in by the governor.
Addressing a press conference in Benin City, Omoregie said Governor Godwin Obaseki has failed the people with the way the election was conducted which he said ended up being a selection.
According to him, “The funniest part is that I couldn’t vote for myself on the election day because there were no materials in my ward.
“I usually vote at the collation center at Adolor ward at the primary school but there were no materials on that day but funny enough, it was uploaded that LP scored 3,857 votes. Who voted for me? As a candidate I couldn’t even vote.
“The people came to vote but there were no materials. They were the only ones that said they voted. In areas like Obaren, Iyowa, Adolor Primary School in Ekiadolor and all the other places only the PDP are claiming that they voted. Where did they vote? They manufactured figures and gave them to us as our score.
“We don’t want handpicked leaders. We spent a lot of resources mobilizing for the election, but we got nothing out of it. Governor Obaseki hijacked the process because as a sitting governor he promised a free and fair election but the reverse is the case.
“Meanwhile this is supposed to be a grassroots election where the people elect who they want but PDP thugs came and hijacked the process. They went away with the materials and none of our agents signed for the receipt of those materials except the PDP. The people wanted their vote to count but they were not given that opportunity.
“I want to also pass this message to the state governor. I believe he is afraid of the Labour Party and is afraid of Comrade Edwin Omorege because if he is not afraid he would have given a level playing ground for the election to be conducted.”
Also speaking, the LP chairmanship candidate in the area, Comrade Nosa Uwaifo who was represented by the Assistant Welfare Secretary, Comrade Franklin Uyi corroborated Omoregie’s position insisting that the LP was confident of winning the election based on the assurances of the Edo State Independent Electoral.
He said “In Oluku ward where we have close to 27,000 voters, some local government areas don’t even have that population. We did not see any material, there was no voting in any of the units, yet results came out from there.
“We want the election to be cancelled because the processes didn’t meet the set rules. The election has failed the test and it shouldn’t stand the test of time,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the 13 councilorship candidates of the party, Henry Owie said they heard intelligence reports that the materials would be hijacked and they duly informed the security agencies who allegedly did nothing..
“On election day, we were waiting in our respective wards for materials to come but we never saw any.
“In Uhen ward, they took only one ballot paper to the unit of Olumoye, our councilorship candidate. He voted for himself and within five minutes everything was over and they announced their result. That was what happened in all the wards in Ovia North East,” he added.
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