Edo State: APC Diaspora Council Rejects Local Government Election Results

On Sep 4, 2023

The Director-General of EDO-APC Diaspora Council, Dr. Legend Asuelime, has described Saturday’s Local Government Election in Edo State as a sham, rejecting the results.

In a statement made available to journalists on Sunday in Abuja, Asuelime said that the election fell short of all indices of a free and fair poll.

According to him, the conduct of the election showed that Governor Godwin Obaseki and the State Electoral Commission had no regard for the rule of law and democracy as well as the people.

“We, the leaders of EDO-APC Diaspora Council, hereby join our party leaders in the State to reject and condemn in its entirety this charade of a supposed democratic process,” he added.

“The State government should have simply appointed caretaker committees for the councils, instead of wasting public resources in the name of election.

“It’s certainly a disgrace and impudence to channel a huge amount of funds to the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission for the purpose of an election and then do not provide the needed logistics or ambience for the conduct thereof.

“The election started late, and when ballot materials eventually arrived in the late afternoon, there were no result sheets.

“This indicated that whichever party the people chose will count for nothing.

“What we witnessed was a sham that needs not have a place in our nascent democracy,” Asuelime lamented.

He urged the electorate to be ready to vote out the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2024 governorship election in the State.

He assured that the APC would work to reclaim the State in a free and fair governorship election in 2024.

“A clean victory is what we hope for because it is more enjoyable knowing that it comes with legitimacy,” he added.

According to source, the Edo State Independent Electoral Commission declared candidates of the ruling PDP winners of the chairmanship election in all the 18 local government areas in the State.

NAN