LP Supporters Protest Shooting of Members By PDP Thugs, Vigilante

The council polls conducted in Edo State Saturday September 2, was marred by violence, thuggery and low voter turn-out. Voters in the 192 wards in Edo State went to the polls to vote for candidates of their choice in the rescheduled Local Government polls.
Early results from some of the wards showed that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was coasting home to an emphatic victory throughout the three senatorial districts of the state but the Labour Party (LP) cried foul, pulling out of the race and over alleged irregularities, violence and intimidation by heavily armed government sponsored thugs.
Angered by the violence and intimidation meted out to their candidates, agents and supporters, members of the opposition party from Oredo and Ikpoba Okha local government areas who, defied the rains, trooped out in their thousands onto the main streets of the Edo State capital to protest against what they insisted was a dubious (s)election.
Expressing their anger at the Secretariat of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Press Centre, Benin, the Ikpoba Okha Local Government chairman of LP, Mr. Jeffery Scott Emuakpor, his counterpart from Oredo Local Government, Mr. Enomayor Paul Adewumi and Mr. Osamudiamen Eghaghe, chairmanship candidate for Ikpoba Okha, alleged that election materials were not evenly distributed.
The trio fumed that materials did not get to LP strongholds while the party members were shot at, intimidated and harassed by the local vigilant group which is under the thumb of the state government, at the various voting centres.
Against the backdrop of the tense situation, Emuakpor, Adewumi and Eghaghe explained that they had no choice but to tell their agents, chairmanship candidates and councillors to pull out of the polls, stressing that the whole exercise was a charade.
They called on the National Assembly to immediately enact legislation, mandating the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be the sole body saddled with the responsibility of conducting all local government elections in the country to avoid it being hijacked by the state governments.
At Iyowa Ward 4, Unit 11, Ovia North East Local Government Area of the state, voting materials arrived on time but the turnout was abysmally low while at Iyoba College, unit 6, Ward 10 in a Egor Local Government Area, the turnout was a bit high.
At visit to an Iyoba College, the immediate past council chairman of Egor and PDP candidate for same position in the election, Ms Eghe Ogbemudia said the election was very peaceful and expressed hope of winning the election.
In the same vein, the PDP candidate for Oredo Local Government, Dr. Tom Obaseki who voted at Oredo Ward 2, unit 13, said the PDP as a party campaigned very well and was sure of victory at the peaceful polls.