Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
The Edo state chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Tony Aziegbemi, said that the party is deeply pained and saddened by the kidnapping of the nine electoral officers at Etsako Central.
Recall that nine electoral officers meant to oversee the conduct of the ward delegates Congress were kidnapped at Jattu in Etsako West Local Government Area of the state.
He expressed his sad feelings while briefing newsmen at the party’s secretariat in Benin on the successful conduct of the ward delegates Congress ahead of the party’s primaries in the state.
Dr. Aziegbemi said the exercise was peaceful and credible except the kidnapping of the electoral officers.
“The exercise was peaceful, it was fair, it was credible . We had only one incident. That is why the panel led by His Excellence, the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, decided and have taken the decision to cancel Etsako Central.
“So, we are not going to have results from Etsako Central. And why is that so? The vehicle conveying the electoral officers were kidnapped somewhere in Jattu yesterday morning.
“The Commissioner of Police was immediately called upon to get to the bottom of this, the DPO, the vigilante around that area was tagged on the issue.
“Unfortunately, as at the time we were closing the Congress (Sunday), we could not lay hands on the electoral officers.
“I am sure that the panel in their wisdom decided that leaving out Etsako Central will not have any substantial effect on the overall results in the area of the governorship primaries that will take place on the 22 of February this year.
“We are expecting that Etsako Central was supposed to give us 31 delegates and overall,we are expecting 594 delegates to vote on the 22 of February.
“So, if you take that ratio 31 to 594, you will agree with the panel that, perhaps, that is the best decision they have taken”.
While responding to question if the election will fuel insecurity in the state, Aziegbemi said no as the security agencies in the state have been on top of their games all this while.
“I don’t think so that the security situation increase in the state because of the forthcoming election, i don’t think so. You guys need to give kudos to the security agencies. Yesterday, the security network was robust.
“We visited some centres in Oredo. The number of security i saw in those centres, we activated the Edo Security Network, we activated the police, the DSS were in mofty, i saw most of them because I know them. It was robust.
“Only that one incident, nobody ever promised that he will have an 100 percent success in some of these things but this is unfortunate, we regret it, we are sad about it and we expect that those people will be released on time”, Aziegbemi said.
The state chairman of the ruling party further admonished the nine aggrieved governorship aspirants who boycotted the exercise to be mindful of what they say to the press noting that, such has the potential of battering the image of the party, just as he urged them to channel their grievances to the committee set up by the party and headed by Seriaki Dickson, former governor of Bayelsa state.
He said that there is still ground for reconciliation in the party as it is their desire to retain the seat of power in the state.