APC’s victory in Edo gov election cannot stand —Ize-Iyamu’s aide

Efe Igbinovia is an aide to the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 28 Edo State governorship election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. He speaks on the PDP’s petition before the Election Petition Tribunal and expresses confidence that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of Governor Godwin Obaseki will soon be kicked out of office.

 

YOU were said to have played a key role in gathering evidence that is expected to be presented before the Edo State governorship election tribunal in the petition filed by Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. What were some of the malpractices or rigging you observed in the conduct of the election?

Yes, it is true I played a key role but didn’t do it alone. We had a team handling it and we did our best to do everything right. To a great extent, I think we did a thorough job going by the timing of our petition and the time we submitted the petition. But it will interest you to know that all this wouldn’t have been possible without the supervision of our principal, Osagie Ize-Iyamu. He sat down with us all through and participated in all the processes leading to the submission of the petition. He showed leadership and inspiration. The weight of our petition showed that we did a thorough job within the limited time we had. Anyone who has gone through the petition will agree that it is about the best election petition that has ever been put together in this country. We were thorough about our petition and we are very hopeful that we will get justice in the court. To start with, the election was brazenly rigged such that the APC people forgot that we will go to court and dig out facts to reclaim our mandate.

As the e court proceedings commence on the 11 January, we will begin to see many revelations of how APC rigged virtually every unit they won during the election. From what we have seen so far, it is not far from the truth the rumour we had before the election that the APC was planning to write the results of the election, because they indeed wrote the results.

 

But it appears your team has been having challenges scanning the ballot papers. Why have you not been able to make progress in terms of scanning of ballot papers?

The APC clearly knows that if they allow the process to go on smoothly, they don’t stand any chance at all. The (APC) just like us secured order to inspect and scan the ballot papers. We went first, however, as I am speaking with you know they are yet to carry out that order they got; they are neither inspecting nor scanning. They only wanted the public to know that they secured the order. In the order handed us, they were asked to inspect what we will be doing. However, they come to the place, sit down and carry the ballot papers and waste time. In situations where one needs to spend a minute on a ballot paper, they will spend 30 minutes. They will make a call, talk endlessly and ask us to wait for them.

They just want to frustrate the process such that a local government one is supposed to complete in three days, you will end up doing it in one month. They are doing this because they are aware that the tribunal has a limited time.

 

Are you not afraid of these delay tactics by the APC?

Number one, it will not affect the petition because the petition can stand on its own without the evidence from the scanning exercise. We are only doing that to further prove our case that indeed the election was rigged, it is not what we are necessarily putting our hope on. I assure you, our petition is strong enough to throw away Godwin Obaseki from the Osadebey Avenue.

A lot of people talked about inducement of voters on the Election Day, are you planning to argue this at the tribunal as well?

No, though was clear that there were financial inducements.

 

From the APC and the PDP?

I wouldn’t want to say it came from both side. For us in the PDP, we didn’t make any plan to induce voters. I’m saying this because I was inside and I know about our plans. However, if a party leader felt that these people were trying to overpower him with money and he couldn’t just watch, that was his own volition. As for the APC, they had a ground plan that was well settled. They had a number they took to the field and gave to their people. They will say “if you finish voting, bring this number and we will settle you.”

 

Do you have confidence in the tribunal to rule in favour of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu?

Yes, I do because we know their pedigree and we know they will not look the other way. We also know that the APC will try to compromise the judges because that is their stock in trade. We, however, believe that we will get justice from them. They have conscience and they know what this means to an average Edo man. If I tell you the number of people interested in this case you would be shocked. People are interested all over the world. Our petition is not only before the judges, it is also before Amnesty International because of the human right abuses as well as the United Nation and the US secretary of State. So it’s everywhere and they are closely monitoring the case.