He said, “I am not satisfied with the postponement of the election”.
Advertisement
He insisted that the commission did not plan to fail while preparing for the rescheduled Edo State governorship election.
The Department of State Security and the Nigeria Police Force had called for the postponement of the poll, citing security reasons. The cost implication of shifting the election would be huge.
He said INEC had already confirmed its readiness for the election, and only the last stage of preparation was left at the time the security agencies advised it to shift the poll.
“On our part, we have traversed the nooks and crannies of the state in the course of our electioneering campaigns, and we have been able to effectively market our candidates and our manifesto”.
He said, “We are calling back about 19,000 staff, we have to pay them again and we might consider retraining them ahead of election, so that they we remember some of the things that we have taught them”.
Oshiomhole, who spoke while receiving the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Idris Ibrahim, at the Government House in Benin City, said the PDP opted for militants from other states because they couldn’t find any local thugs to help them perpetrate violence which they have done between 1999 and 2007.
“Those ones must be lurking around various locations within our state even as we speak”.
“The postponement, therefore, provides an opportunity for security agencies to address these concerns in addition to whatever other threats they may have discovered”.
Advertisement
But the KOWA candidate, who faulted the postponement, lamented that the failure of the commission to hold the election on September 10 “destabilised” his campaign. Peace is very important that people realise that we build up to 28th, with peace in mind and the election is held in a peaceful environment. He stressed the need to have good communication among all the stakeholders to ensure that the election takes place smoothly and in a peaceful manner. “We can argue that since the hard-fought elections of previous year, we have simply had a change in government, but not a change in the conduct of public officials, which sometimes borders on impunity and recklessness. We have to live with that no matter the inconvenience”.
