Edo State PDP Responds To Okpebholo, “The Guilty Are Afraid.”
Any clever scheme to hide the alleged widespread manipulation of the state’s governorship election on September 21 would fail, according to the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Edo State chapter.
Chris Nehikhare, the publicity secretary for the PDP’s caretaker committee in the state, made this statement in response to a statement made by Mr. Fred Itua, the chief press secretary to Edo State Governor, who claimed that former Governor Godwin Obaseki and some of his party leaders met with editors of some national newspapers, which he did not name, with the intention of disparaging Okpebholo’s election victory.
If the APC actually won the election through a free, fair, and credible process, Nehikhare questioned why they would be so nervous.
His statement reads in part:
“Our attention has been drawn to a ridiculous and disappointing statement credited to the Chief Press Secretary to the Edo State Governor-select, Monday Okpebholo, where he made laborious and baseless claims in a desperate effort to discredit the independent analysis by the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, a non-partisan research institute, which exposed the widespread manipulation that marred the September 21 governorship election.
“The analysis, backed by incontrovertible evidence and data, clearly showed the orchestration of rigging by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to favour the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The desperate attempts by Okpebholo and his media hirelings to deflect attention from these facts only underscore their fear of the truth and their unwillingness to confront the reality of their fraudulent actions.
“We want to categorically state that the centre did not release the report as observers of the election, the analysis is the outcome of careful examination and analysis of documents and data made available to the centre by INEC who are the electoral umpires.
“We sympathize with the Governor-Select and his team because we know they are not very conversant with digital tools or anything that has to do with data, which makes them extremely uncomfortable when confronted with hard facts. This is evident in their reaction to the independent analysis, where instead of addressing the data and evidence presented, they resort to baseless claims and campaigns of calumny.
“We understand their challenge, they clearly do not understand data and are unable to utilize same effectively.
“However, the data in question is a true picture of the election, based on the documents provided by INEC, which revealed the systemic rigging and brazen manipulation of the governorship election in Edo State. It is akin to daylight robbery and the robbers blatantly refused to wear masks as they robbed in their community.”
According to Nehikhare, the APC and Okpebholo are more concerned with name-calling, intimidating civil and public servants, firing and serving, and threatening Edo people and anyone who dared to speak out against this daylight robbery than they are with resolving the serious concerns expressed regarding the legitimacy of the governorship election.
The PDP spokesperson said that Okpebholo’s daily whining and fixation on the previous PDP government are like those of a betrayed lover and advised him to focus on the task of governance.
“The people of Edo State have spoken at the September 21 governorship poll casting their vote for the PDP, and their mandate cannot be undermined by deceit, intimidation, or baseless claims. We remain steadfast in our resolve to reclaim our party’s mandate and are confident in the judiciary to ensure that justice prevails,” the statement concluded.
