Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, on Saturday, alleged a grand plan by his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki, some members of the opposition parties of plotting a media trial to discredit his victory in the 21 September governorship election.
This is contained in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua in Benin City.
The governor was reacting to the claim by former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) manipulated the election in favour of the Edo Governor.
Okpebholo who expressed dismay with the media for providing the platform for Chidoka to peddle what it described as the latest drama of Osita Chidoka said, “We are aware that former Governor Godwin Obaseki and some PDP leaders in Edo State, and their supporters had a meeting during the week, with online merchants and editors of leading newspapers; where it was decided that media trial should be the pattern of their current engagement to discredit the very credible Edo election of 21st September.
“The truth of the matter is that INEC conducted a very free and fair, violence-free election acknowledged by domestic observers in their various reports. The PDP leadership in Edo state in its review and report, also acknowledged that APC won the election.
“The latest drama of Osita Chidoka amounts to merely beating about the bush, trying to rake up mud against the election. The PDP should allow the tribunal do its job in line with established procedures.”
He accused the media of leading the gang up, saying that, “The idea of deploying the services of editors and senior journalists with a marching order to discredit the administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo by all means possible is outlandish and self-serving.
“Their identities are now known, and will be made public in the coming days. We can see that they have recoursed to the social media spaces, pages of national newspapers and pliable national televisions, to push their ugly narratives, that Governor Okpebholo did not win the 21st September governorship election in Edo State.
“By this, we make them all aware that Governor Monday Okpebholo is making good progress in office as the duly elected Governor with an irrevocable mandate for the next four years.”
Okpebholo alleged that his attempt to verify assets of the state to recover “stolen cars and other assets from Obaseki’s criminal allies, and probe, if necessary, the financial heist orchestrated by the last administration” triggered the desperate moves to vilify his election.
The Edo PDP Caretaker Committee, Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, said that the APC-led government plan to conceal systemic rigging of the Edo poll will fail.
Nehikhare said, “We want to categorically state that the centre did not release the report as observers of the election, the analysis is the outcome of careful examination and analysis of documents and data made available to the centre by INEC who are the electoral umpires.
“We sympathize with the Governor and his team because we know they are not very conversant with digital tools or anything that has to do with data, which makes them extremely uncomfortable when confronted with hard facts. This is evident in their reaction to the independent analysis, where instead of addressing the data and evidence presented, they resort to baseless claims and campaigns of calumny.
“We understand their challenge, they clearly do not understand data and are unable to utilize same effectively. However, the data in question is a true picture of the election, based on the documents provided by INEC, which revealed the systemic rigging and brazen manipulation of the governorship election in Edo State.”