By Joseph Ebi Kanjo, Benin
The Edo State Government has fired back at the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the party is afraid of defeat hence cooks up lies ahead of the September 21st governorship election in the state.
Prince Kassim Afegbua, Director of Media, APC Campaign Council, had on Tuesday alleged that Governor Godwin Obaseki had perfected plans to rig the governorship election in favour of his candidate by using fake uniform men.
Afegbua further alleged that there was a meeting in the state government house on Monday where the plot to rig the election was discussed but some individuals consulted to carry out the act turned it down.
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But reacting to the allegation, Crusoe Osagie, Special Adviser to Obaseki on Media Projects, described Afegbua’s allegations as “infantile”, adding, that the “rambling is just another failed attempt to mislead the public.”
Osagie’s statement reads in part: “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.
“The rambling is just another failed attempt to mislead the public and distract from their own devious plan to rig the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State having realized that they have lost favour with the people and cannot win in a free and fair contest.
“Pray tell, who has been boasting of federal might since the start of the campaigns, harassing and intimidating innocent citizens of the State and members of the opposition? It is rather laughable and interesting that the very thing the APC is already doing is what they are claiming that other persons are doing.
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“Does anyone need answers to why the APC in Edo State has been relentless in their campaign of calumny against the State’s Security and Vigilante Network in the run-up to the gubernatorial elections and why they want to by all means discredit and disable the intelligence gathering scheme, which security agencies in the State have confirmed their role in combating crime and criminality, especially in the grassroots?
“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.”
The SA, while calling on “authorities to place their eyes on Afegbua and the APC because what they are accusing others of is exactly what they are planning to do themselves,” urged “Edo citizens to remain calm and come out enmasse on September 21 to vote without fear of intimidation, harassment or violence.”