- Confident of Victory in guber elections
By Ken Afor
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) has been commended by Edo State chapter of the party for the peaceful conduct of the ward delegates’ election to elect three ad-hoc delegates across the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 192 wards of the state.
Commending the NWC for the conduct of the exercise, the State Organising Secretary of Edo PDP, Mr. Anthony Anenih, noted that the exercise was quite peaceful. According to him the peaceful nature of the exercise is also an indication that the PDP is ready to repeat the victory it scored when Governor Godwin Obaseki won on thevparty’s ticket four years ago.
Anenih, however noted that
despite the peaceful conduct of the election, an incident was reported at Jattu, where eight of the officials heading to Etsako Central Local Government Area (LGA) for the election were abducted.
According to him, the incident occurred at the hometown of the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu. He called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun to order a swift investigation with a view to releasing the victims.
He said: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ward delegates election to elect the three ad-hoc delegates have been concluded across the 18 Local Government Areas and 192 wards in Edo State.
“The electoral officers who concluded the elections have since returned with results from the election handed over to the electoral committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
“The process which was observed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and various civil society groups was reported to be mostly peaceful across the state with only one incident at Jattu, the hometown of the Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu, where eight of the officials heading to Etsako Central Local Government Area for the election were abducted.”
“The party hereby calls on the Inspector General of Police to order a swift investigation of the incident and promptly ensure the release of the affected officials, whose families are troubled by the fate of their loved ones.”
Despite the peaceful conduct of the exercise, results from Etsako Central were canceled by the ward congress committee headed by the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, due to the abduction of the officials, according to Mr. Anthony Aziegbemi, Chairman of the Edo State chapter of the PDP.
Anenih added that the cancellation of the result will not affect the overall results in the governorship primary scheduled for February 22, 2024.
He said: “The Congresses went on well. It was peaceful, fair and credible but with one incident that led to the Committee cancelling the exercise from Etsako Central.
“The nine electoral officers were kidnapped around Jattu on their way to Etsako Central Local Government Area of the Edo State on the morning of the exercise. As at the time we were closing the Congress yesterday, the whereabouts of these men were not known.
“The Commissioner of Police was immediately called upon to investigate the issue. At the end of the exercise, the electoral officers were still not seen. So, the Committee took the decision to cancel results from Etsako Central as the result from that area will have no effect on the overall results in terms of the governorship primary on the 22nd of February 2024.
“The outcome of the Congress has shown that PDP in Edo State is the best organised in the country. This is so because the leader of the party and governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki is driving the party to achieve this.
“On behalf of the PDP family in Edo State, I congratulate the leader of the party in the State who has pushed us that much to be able to achieve such a credible, fair, and peaceful congress in the history of PDP in Nigeria,” he added.
On his part, the statement chairman of the party, Anthony Aziegbemi noted that the aggrieved aspirants have the right to express their grievances, urging them to use the appropriate channel to register their complaints.
