The camp of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship candidate in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, is expressing concern over an alleged plot to intimidate voters in the state in the guise of staged attacks on All Progressives Congress, APC chieftains including Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
The plan, according to PDP sources, follows feelers of a plot by the APC to engineer a police state ahead of the governorship election to allow the APC manipulate the election.
Credible sources in the PDP allude to what they say as feelers of reports that Senator Adams Oshiomhole and the Minister of Niger Delta, Hon Abubakar Momoh, were recently attacked in Edo State.
A PDP source, while denying the claim, said that Oshiomhole was neither attacked nor harassed as being claimed.
“We are hearing that Oshiomhole and the Minister of Niger Delta were attacked in Edo North. We are shocked to hear such a fabrication as we know that nothing like that happened, so the rumour or whatever it is, is a complete fabrication.
“At best we know that it is all part of the plot by the APC to instigate a police state that will allow them to manipulate the election.
“You remember that a former APC vice-chairman, Chief Francis Inegbeniki, who recently dumped the APC because of their candidate, has also revealed that while he was in the APC, the party had been plotting to rig the election. We believe that this is part of the plot.
“We can assure Oshiomhole and the few people following him that Edo is safe and we challenge his candidate to go anywhere to speak on what he wants to do for Edo.”
Speaking on Arise News television on Thursday evening, Mr Ighodalo had expressed concern over what he alleged as the bias by the police against his supporters.
He alleged that several of his supporters had been arrested for weeks without being charged to court.
“In the last couple of weeks, the police have been arresting our supporters without basis. The principle of the law is that if you arrest somebody, you should charge them to court within 24 hours and if you don’t find anything to charge them, you release them.”
