Edo PDP chairman taunts Obaseki over one million votes for Buhari

BUOYED by the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State in last Saturday’s polls, the state chairman, Chief Dan Orbih has taunted Governor Godwin Obaseki over his promise to deliver one million votes to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Obaseki had boasted during the party presidential campaign in the state capital of Benin to reward Buhari with one million Edo votes for his sterling performance.

Orbih who spoke in Benin yesterday commended the police for playing a neutral role during last Saturday’s polls in the state, however dismissive Obaseki with a wave of the hand, noting that the result clearly showed that it was an empty boast meant to massage the president’s ego.

Against the backdrop of back to back victory in the 2015 and the 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections, Orbih told reporters yesterday in Benin that the victory cleared showed that Edo is a PDP state.

The PDP won two of the three senatorial seats and four out of the nine House of Representatives seats while it scored to 275,671 best the APC which won 267,800 votes in the presidential election.

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Going by the details of the election, the ruling party, however, won ten out of the 18 local government areas while the opposition won the remaining eight.

Going down memory lane, Orbih reminded that when the PDP took the state in 2015 during the current APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s time as governor of Edo state, the excuse was that it was a combination of sympathy votes for ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, a fellow Niger Deltan and intimidation by security personnel.

He said: “Obaseki was just blowing empty when he promised Buhari one million votes. Oshiomhole’s excuse of intimidation by security personnel in 2015 did not hold water as his party, the APC is now in charge. Also, Jonathan is no longer in power. The result clearly showed that Edo is a PDP state.”

Orbih who dedicated the victory to Edo people added that the feat would have been difficult to achieve if not for the gallantry of the police, led by Commissioner of Police in charge of elections in the state, Mr Mohammed DanMallam who ensured that the combined team of security operatives played a neutral role.

The PDP chairman who adduced the party’s defeat in the 2016 governorship poll to too much concentration of security personnel in the state, the majority of who were dubious, however, called for a constitutional amendment that will eliminate a one-off election.