Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has declared that the governorship election scheduled for September 21 is a “do-or-die” affair.
During a visit by Abdulsalami Abubakar, former military Head of State and Chairman of the National Peace Committee, Obaseki accused the Nigerian police—who are supposed to enforce the peace accord—of siding with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and aiming to instigate violence in the election.
Obaseki expressed his concerns about the police force, noting that they had detained ten PDP members, including an LGA chairman, without sufficient evidence or valid reasons.
He remarked: “You are very conversant with the politics of Edo State. You were here in 2020, and we had a very heated election. You know this is an off-cycle election, and there is a lot of attention.”
He continued: “Unlike 2020, I am very worried about the developments in the state today. The party met yesterday, and we may not sign this agreement.
“This is the first time we are witnessing that the entity supposed to maintain and enforce the peace accord is now actively creating a destructive environment.”
Obaseki criticized the APC, noting their claim of using federal power to influence the election despite their previous defeat.
He said: “The opposition party in the state, the APC, has always argued that they may not be as popular and didn’t win in the last election, but they have promised to use federal power to determine the outcome of this election.
“We thought it was just rhetoric, but in the last four weeks, we’ve had a situation where from the office of the IGP, armed police gangs have entered Edo state to invade, arrest, and take away PDP members.”
At a grand finale of the PDP’s governorship campaign in Oredo Local Government Area, Obaseki declared: “This election is a do-or-die. Do you want insecurity? Do you want people that didn’t go to school to lead us? Next Saturday is the election, you will vote for PDP and our next governor is Asue Ighodalo.”
Earlier, Obaseki had welcomed top APC figures to the state, including Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, APC National Chairman Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and other APC governors and lawmakers, who were in Edo for the grand finale of Senator Monday Okpebholo’s campaign.
