22nd April, 2013
JETHRO IBILEKE/Benin
The leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Edo State Monday slammed the state chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for its failure to clinch a single seat out of the 14 chairmanship results released so far, saying it was self-inflicted.
The ACN had swept all the 14 chairmanship position in the elections into the 18 local government councils released by the State Independent Electoral Commission, following which the PDP condemns the election results.
Chairman of the Edo ACN, Thomas Okosun while responding to the condemnation of the election result by PDP, described the outcome of the election “as a true reflection of the wishes of the Edo people.”
Addressing journalists at the headquarters of the ACN in Benin City, Edo State, Mr. Okosun, said though the election was affected by late arrival of voting materials in many parts of the state, the election was credible as people came out to cast their votes, adding that the state government was not to blame for the late arrival of voting materials and the timing for the arrival of the voting materials was not to be determined by any political party.
He said the press conference became important “because of the series of unfounded allegations made by the opposition party, the (PDP).”
“We in the ACN also complained about the late arrival of materials but the election was peaceful. All the PDP members are saying is that materials arrived late but they were never ready for the election and did not campaign.
“I want to say that PDP’s problems are self-inflicted. Instead of working for Edo, they stole Edo’s money. Today, nobody in Edo can trust PDP with power. The question is what has changed between now and 2012 when Oshiomhole won in all the 18 local government areas? Another question is what did PDP do for Edo people in about 10 years of their stay in power?” Okosun asked.