Edo Governorship: PDP Withdraws Threat To Boycott Saturday Election

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has withdrawn its threat to boycott Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and the state’s PDP Chairman, Anthony Aziegbemi, said the decision followed a review of commitments from Nigeria Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The PDP reached the decision in a caucus meeting, the video of which was obtained by African Independent Television (AIT) on Tuesday. The meeting had Governor Obaseki, Aziegbemi and the party’s governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, among others in attendance.

Addressing newsmen, Obaseki and Aziegbemi advised Edo citizens to come out en mass to vote for the party’s candidate.

“We, as a caucus, are pleased with the current utterances from the security agencies in Nigeria. We want to particularly appreciate the statement issued by the Inspector General of Police, making a commitment to support the peace process to ensure that there’s a level playing field for all the players. And we endorse his efforts to draft a lot more men to Edo to support the elections on Saturday. We are also pleased with the preparations of INEC so far. And we have every reason to trust what the authorities of INEC have committed to,” Governor Obaseki said.

On his part, Aziegbemi added, “We are ready for the elections. We believe very strongly that the programs we put together will lead us to victory. And that our people, Edo people, should not be afraid to come out on the 21st of September to cast their votes. We believe that we are one. We believe that nobody will come and hurt his or her brother or sister at the polling unit. And we think that, together, we will make the right choice and Edo will be better for it.”