Edo 2023 Local govt election, rape of democracy- Ogbaloi

From Chris Akhabue 

The Chairman of Edo state Labour Party, Comrade Kelly Ogbaloi has said that the last Saturday local government election in the state was a rape of democracy as according to him, the entire exercise and process was militarized and full of 

violence. 

He made the declaration yesterday in a Press briefing held at the party secretariat in Benin city, the Edo state capital 

According to him, " this press conference is called purposely to clear the air and let Edo people and the world at large know that the purported Local Government Election conducted by Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, was a show of shame and falls short of all known democratic standards and practices. 

"That Edo people were denied the opportunity to exercise their franchise in electing their representatives at the grassroots level, which is the Local Government. It was a rape of democracy, as the entire exercise and process was militarized and full of violence. 

He said that voting materials were purposely delayed from getting to the various polling units, and that EDSIEC deliberately did not deploy ad-hoc staff to most of the units in places like Egor and Oredo Local Government Areas, thereby giving room for hijacking of the process. 

He further added that election materials distributed to the various units by EDSIEC arrived Okada in Ovia North East LGA, at about 11:00PM on Friday 1st September 2023 and were forcefully taking away at gun point immediately they arrived. 

Still speaking, he said that an

eyewitness account had it that PDP thugs numbering over fifty were stationed at the entrance of the Secretariat where the materials were taken to and that they started shouting and shooting sporadically to scare people away saying, "We don't want Labour Party here, its PDP we’re working for". 

He further alleged that the voters were chased away by the agents of Edo Security Network in parts of the metropolitan Local Government Areas, adding that 

the vehicles that were parked beside the hoodlums suspected to have conveyed them were all from Edo State Government House. 

"As a Party, we consider this as EDSIEC connivance with the PDP led government to hijack the process, if not, why would they deliberately delay the distribution of materials till night of 1st September, 2023? 

"We are shocked that inspite of this obvious rape of democracy, EDSIEC still went ahead to declare PDP candidates as winners and issued them certificates of return, even when their ad-hoc staff were not on ground to conduct the election in most of the units across the 18 Local Government Areas of Edo State. 

"In Ovia South West, PDP thugs came with sporadic shooting and carted away the voting materials going to Ofunama ward, Inikorogha ward, Udo, Siluko and several other wards. 

"The situation in Oredo, Ikpoba-Okha, Egor, Uhunmwode and Orhionwon Local Goverment Areas in Edo South, were not different. 

"In Edo Central, Igueben LGA, Okpoji (Ward 9), inspite of the manipulations, Labour Party still won the ward councillorship election, yet the PDP candidate was dectared winner, thereby denying the Labour Party candidate victory. 

"In Esan West, out of the 20 ballot booklets that were allotted to Ward 6, only 1 was declared. This situation was same in all wards across Esan West Local Government Area. This same fate was suffered across the whole of Edo Central and in Edo North, the situation did not fare better. 

According to him, "the entire exercise was hijacked as there was no voting across the polling units in the State. Therefore, the Edo State chapter of Labour Party, entirely rejects the outcome of the purported Local Government Elections held on Saturday, 2nd of September, 2023, and therefore calls on EDSIEC and its Chairman, Justice James Oyomwe (Rtd.), to immediately withdraw the Certificates of Return given to PDP candidates, to save their integrity and promote democracy" he concluded.