Oshiomhole plotting to change electoral officers —PDP

•Allegation mere lamentation of a drowning party  —Govt

Ahead the rescheduled governorship election in Edo State, on September 28, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has disclosed that the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, is plotting to effect the change of designated electoral officers (EOs) for the election, adding that the governor was prepared to use his office and influence to rig the election in favour of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party also alleged that Governor Oshiomhole used his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir el-Rufai, to influence a federal commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postponing the election from the earlier date of September 10 to 28.

State chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih, who stated this while addressing journalists at the state headquarters of the party in Benin, on Wednesday, said  Governor Oshiomhole ensured that the election was postponed in order to perfect a rigging plan.

He pointed out that the APC, led by the Governor Oshiomhole, was now using the postponement to buy unclaimed permanent voter cards (PVCs) to be used by people who would be brought to Edo State to vote, adding that part of the APC’s plan was to manipulate the electronic card readers so that INEC would resort to the use of manual voting through the use of incident forms.

Meanwhile, the Edo State government has described the PDP’s allegations as mere lamentations that are  indicative of the party’s impending loss, adding that it was obvious that the party was jittery going by its mosquito campaigns across the state as opposed to the APC’s campaigns.

The state Commissioner for Information, Kassim Afegbua, in a statement said, “while we took over the state by storm with our grand finale campaign, PDP governors sneaked into town and held their own rally in a 12 by 13 room size. What does that tell you?

“Secondly, following the arrest of some militants, who are now being arraigned, it was obvious that the security threat was real. The police and DSS have been able to make successful arrests of militants, who were hitherto recruited to cause violence in the state and their confessions have simply explained the devilish intention of the PDP.”