- Written by Ebenezer Adurokiya And Banji Aluko
- Wednesday, 16 October 2013 00:00
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that only a fresh
election will appease its members given the magnitude of electoral
malpractices that trailed last Saturday’s by-election to the Delta
Central senatorial district seat in Delta State.
APC, Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Labour Party (LP) among others, had after the result was announced on Sunday morning by INEC, rejected the exercise in its entirety, describing it as a sham.
The parties unanimously demanded “a fresh election that would allow the people of Delta Central to freely elect a senator of their choice.”
Candidate of the APC, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, had, last Sunday, declared his total rejection of the election exercise at a press briefing in Effurun, Delta State.
The party accused the government and all its agencies, including INEC and security agencies, for working in favour of the ruling party, the PDP.
“I hereby place this on record that no bye-election took place in Delta Central senatorial district onOctober 12, 2013. What took place was a sham calculated to select a senator, the first by any democracy in the world by the government and all its agencies, including the INEC, the military and other security agencies working together to achieve this nefarious and predetermined outcome,” Emerhor insisted.
According to him, the whole process was militarized and voters were intimidated to stay at home and were not allowed to come out and exercise their franchise, adding that the Nigerian Army supervised the snatching of ballot boxes by PDP stalwarts and thugs.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has called on the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) to disqualify the newly registered APC from contesting Tuesday’s rescheduled local government election in Esan North East Council and eight other wards in four other council areas of the state.
State chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, said APC cannot contest the October 22 election “because the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, forbids a new entrant into a re-run election.”
He made the clarification in his address to PDP faithful, who thronged the party’s campaign rally in Uromi, headquarters of Esan North East Local Government Area, ahead of the election scheduled for next week.
“The only parties that can participate are those that were in existence when the election was declared in-conclusive. We will ensure that the law is followed,” Orbih said.
Speaking further, Orbih revealed that Edo PDP has uncovered fresh plots by the Edo State Government to sell the state-owned Edo Line, which he noted was acquired from a foreign company by Dr. S.O. Ogbemudia, when he was the military administrator of the defunct Midwestern State.
He said “the planned sale is not in the interest of Edo people or the former staffers and families of the establishment, who have been visited with untold hardship since the company was shut down by the present administration.”
He urged the Edo people to resist what he described as “the sudden prodigal actions’ of the Edo State Government.
APC, Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and Labour Party (LP) among others, had after the result was announced on Sunday morning by INEC, rejected the exercise in its entirety, describing it as a sham.
The parties unanimously demanded “a fresh election that would allow the people of Delta Central to freely elect a senator of their choice.”
Candidate of the APC, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, had, last Sunday, declared his total rejection of the election exercise at a press briefing in Effurun, Delta State.
The party accused the government and all its agencies, including INEC and security agencies, for working in favour of the ruling party, the PDP.
“I hereby place this on record that no bye-election took place in Delta Central senatorial district onOctober 12, 2013. What took place was a sham calculated to select a senator, the first by any democracy in the world by the government and all its agencies, including the INEC, the military and other security agencies working together to achieve this nefarious and predetermined outcome,” Emerhor insisted.
According to him, the whole process was militarized and voters were intimidated to stay at home and were not allowed to come out and exercise their franchise, adding that the Nigerian Army supervised the snatching of ballot boxes by PDP stalwarts and thugs.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has called on the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC) to disqualify the newly registered APC from contesting Tuesday’s rescheduled local government election in Esan North East Council and eight other wards in four other council areas of the state.
State chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, said APC cannot contest the October 22 election “because the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, forbids a new entrant into a re-run election.”
He made the clarification in his address to PDP faithful, who thronged the party’s campaign rally in Uromi, headquarters of Esan North East Local Government Area, ahead of the election scheduled for next week.
“The only parties that can participate are those that were in existence when the election was declared in-conclusive. We will ensure that the law is followed,” Orbih said.
Speaking further, Orbih revealed that Edo PDP has uncovered fresh plots by the Edo State Government to sell the state-owned Edo Line, which he noted was acquired from a foreign company by Dr. S.O. Ogbemudia, when he was the military administrator of the defunct Midwestern State.
He said “the planned sale is not in the interest of Edo people or the former staffers and families of the establishment, who have been visited with untold hardship since the company was shut down by the present administration.”
He urged the Edo people to resist what he described as “the sudden prodigal actions’ of the Edo State Government.
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