Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is afraid of the use of the Permanent Voters’ Card in the forthcoming election because the PVC would expose their rigging methods and stop electoral fraud.
Speaking while receiving over two thousand PDP members, led by Chief Sunny Omokaro, Chairman Edo State Butchers Association and Chief Peter Osagie, Afesoba of Benin Kingdom, who defected into the All Progressives Congress, at the Government House, Tuesday, Oshiomhole said the use of the PVC will ensure clean and credible polls.
He said: “you can see they are running away from card readers like armed robbers running away from police detectives. They hate the card reader. They must do the election and the card readers must be used. Electoral fraud must come to an end.
“The Nigerian people must be the master of their own game using the one man one vote. Those who have lived on electoral fraud, they are now being retrenched by the new technology. But let me ask you to watch out because right now they take advantage of the very people they have impoverished to buy their cards. They can do everything but they cannot stop their defeat.
“Today the APC is stronger, better organized, more united, more focused, and bonded together like a broom determined to sweep PDP from power.”
He said “PDP is making trouble everywhere. They plan to hit, they are buying weapons everywhere, planning to print stickers, plan to buy rubber bands to identify their thugs, and they are working in unholy alliance with all manner of people. But they cannot escape defeat.
“Our foreign reserve is going down, interest rate is going up, the banking system is nervous, billionaires are being reduced to paupers. I was reading a newspaper story where a rich man was said to have lost about $8 billion. So if the system is destroying investors, where are the young ones going to work. So it is about our economy, our education, our health sector, it is about electricity”, he said
According to the Governor, “things are getting worse and Nigerians will no longer vote on the basis of sentiments. I appeal to you to take the gospel to the villages because right now money is changing hands; a lot of money is changing hands.
“In Edo State, we know better. Our problem is not about Islam or Christianity, it is about what works and what does not work. Yesterday I awarded contract to distribute transformers to some communities within Benin City using Edo State Government money and private people will go and collect electricity bills at the end of the month for the transformers bought by the state government.”
Afesoba of Benin Kingdom, Chief Peter Osagie who gave reasons why the PDP leaders defected with their teeming supporters said there was something in the governor that should be studied.
He said “Some people left the APC and you were happy and when they came to us in PDP, we were dancing and happy. I told them let us find out why the Comrade and his Deputy were dancing and happy when these people are leaving. Nobody actually agreed with me as they said that I am trying to pretend. But not quite long we all began to see why the comrade and his deputy were dancing and happy.
“When these people came we thought they were coming to assist us not knowing they were coming to confuse us and they came and confused everybody and we all felt aggrieved and as the financial secretary, there no need staying in a place where I am not happy. Since there is happiness and joy in APC, we decided to join APC.”
On his part, Chief Sunny Omokaro, Chairman Butchers Association, said their earlier exit from the APC was a form of travel and “we have come back from our travel. We are back home and we want to assure you in every nook and cranny of the state, the people will vote for APC.”
Other leaders who defected included Barrister Clement Ogbekile and Pastor Sylvester Aghagbon, both PDP leaders from Orhionmwon Local Government Area and Osezuwa Felix, Larry Idada and Kingsley Ohiuzuwa, PDP leaders in Wards I, 2 and 5 of Egor Local Government.