The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate in the Edo State governorship election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, lost the election only because they were up against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) instead of the ruling party’s candidate.
Mr. Fayose who spoke through his Special Assistant on Public Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, on Monday said the APC victory in the election was “victory only made possible by the use of federal government agencies to subvert the will of the people.”
According to him, the win at all cost attitude of the APC is inimical to the sustenance of democracy in the country. He said that instead of the people of Edo State electing their own governor, the APC conspired with INEC to foist its own governor on the people.
He lamented that it was unfortunate that those whose change was made possible because the then PDP-led federal government allowed the people the freedom to make a choice had now eroded the independence of INEC.
“The stage for the manipulation of the election was set by the use of security agencies to postpone the election, even when there was no single security threat and what was witnessed in Edo State last Wednesday was the execution of the rigging plans perfected after the postponement,” Mr. Fayose said.
He said it should be obvious to all lovers of democracy in Nigeria and the international community that the APC-led federal government would never allow free and fair election in the country, as the PDP and other opposition parties would henceforth be contesting against INEC.
“The power of the people to choose their governor was completely robbed at gunpoint in Edo State,” he said.
“Unfortunately too, these elements have even murdered the rights of Nigerians to protest against the subversion of their will and it is now obvious that only the insistence of Nigerians can save democracy in the country.
“Like I have said before, we are already seeing signs of what to come in 2019 and Nigerians should know by now that it will only take their insistence for their votes to count as long as these APC elements remain in power.”
The PDP and some other opposition parties had earlier condemned the outcome of the election, accusing the APC and the INEC of rigging of the election.
