ESAN SOUTH EAST, ESAN NORTH EAST WITNESS PEACEFUL POLLStoday's election, a reflection of quality leadership of PDP_ Deputy Speaker

From Chris Akhabue

The Deputy Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly Mrs Maria Oligbi Edeko, member representing the people of Esan North East Constituency at the Edo House of Assembly has said that the Edo state local government elections in Esan North East was very peaceful as the turn out was also impressive.

Speaking to newsmen in Uromi , Mrs Maria Omozele Oligbi Edeko pointed out that the election was very peaceful, free, fair and credible as voters turned out massively to cast their votes.

According to her, "today's election speaks volumes of the quality of 

leadership of the Peoples Democratic party in Esan North East as the people were unanimous in the choice of candidate they wanted in this election and they voted overwhelmingly for the PDP candidate because several days to the election we had massive campaigns and the governor of the state, Mr Godwin Obaseki, the leader of the Party was here in Edo Central to do ward to Ward, Unit to Unit and door to door campaign while other political parties took it as a tea party but we went out campaigning aggressively to sensitize the voters and the result of that endeavour is what we are seeing today in the massive turn out.

She further added that the governor has done so much for the constituency which she said has also attracted the people to come out and vote for the governor's candidate.

Louis Imhandegbelo, the PDP Chairmanship candidate for Esan South East local government area who spoke to the Press immediately after casting his vote at his polling unit at Ward 4 Unit 5, said the exercise was peaceful as there was no rancour of any sort.

According to him, "from the feelers we are getting from across the entire local government area, the election is generally peaceful in all the various units in Esan South East. As you can see, I just cast my vote and you can see other voters waiting in the queue to also cast their votes.

" As for the turn-out, I would say that the turn out was impressive as the people here have always supported our projects and they have all come out to replicate the gesture once again. 

Also speaking with the Press after casting his vote, Hon John Yakubu who voted at Uzenema Primary School, in Ward 3 in Esan North East local government said the exercise was peaceful.

" I just casted my vote and the conduct of the election is going on smoothly. As you can see, the exercise is peaceful and as far as I want to believe, the exercise is credible as voters are casting their votes peacefully and we expect a credible, free and fair result at the end of the exercise.

On his expectation of the outcome of the polls, he had this to say, " Lets be honest with ourselves, it is only our party the PDP that campaign round the 18 local government for this elections and the governor of the state, Mr Godwin Obaseki went round the 18 local government of the state to campaign and therefore we expect a resounding result.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Ewohimi, Esan South East local government area (APC) Elder Eboigbe Sam, however rated the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission ( ESIEC ) low for what he described as the unavailability of result sheets which made the voters to boycott the election in Ward 1 Unit 3 and several other units in his ward.

"According to him, many people turned out to cast their votes in my unit in Ward 1 Unit 3 and several other units but when they discovered that there were no results sheets, they refused to cast their votes but instead, they left one after the other in frustration and in anger"

 

One of the respondents who spoke to the Press in Ward 4, a party leader, Mr Ehikioya Akole, said that the election was peaceful and that the turn out was impressive and he also commended the Edo state Independent Electoral Commission for a peaceful and credible election.

According to a frontline PDP aspirant in the coming Edo 2024 governorship election, Prince Joe Okojie, observed that the election was generally peaceful.

"From my observation, the election of today was very peaceful and all the reports we are getting from our 11 wards suggest that the whole exercise was peaceful and we are hoping that at the end of the day we are going to have a resounding victory.

He further added that he was impressed with the performance of EDSIEC for conducting a peaceful election. He also commended the various security agencies for maintenance of peace during the election.