Edo state State Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council has raised the alarm over a plot by the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and APC chieftains in Edo to rig and buy votes during the September 19 governorship election with N300 million polled from local councils in Lagos State.
Chairman of the council’s publicity and media committee, Chris Osa Nehikhare, in a statement, said intelligence available to the council revealed that the local councils in Lagos State have been mandated to contribute N15 million each to finance the rigging plan.
According to him, “We are once again drawing the attention of the world and all lovers of democracy to the glaring fact that the APC is attempting to rig the Edo 2020 governorship election scheduled for Saturday, September 19, 2020, by mobilising N300 million from Lagos State local councils, each council contributing N15 million to execute the sinister plan.
“It is regrettable and disturbing that at a time when Lagosians are suffering from the vagaries of biting economic hardship superintendent by the APC government’s policies, the party is deploying Lagos State’s resources to subvert the will of Edo People.”
But in his reaction, the Chairman of the APC Media Campaign Council, Mr. John Mayaki alleged that Nehikhare “fabricated” the story.
He said, “The PDP is renowned countrywide for its matchless fabrications. They are masters of falsehood, but whenever Nehikhare gets excited and tries to fabricate one, he overdoes it. It is glaring that the man did not know what he was saying. He should meet Chief Dan Orbih, his mentor, to teach him the art.”
Mayaki explained further that, “Edo people know that APC has no interest in dishonest politics. What do we stand to gain from buying votes that the people have already promised us? Why would Lagos local government councils raise that kind of money for us? Don’t they have anything to do with the money in Lagos? If Lagos went about furnishing APC states with that kind of outrageous sum, what will they use to develop themselves? I think their claim is due to our earlier exposure on Obaseki’s order to council chairmen to release the sum of N1.7 million to 18 local government Electoral Officers (EOs)”.