The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the September
\n10 election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has asked foreign missions and
\nagencies in Nigeria to send observers and monitors to ensure that plans by
\nany party to rig the elections are nipped in the bud.<\/p>\n
Ize-Iyamu said that the presence of such agencies would also put the
\nIndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under intense pressure to
\nensure that they conduct free, fair and credible elections.<\/p>\n
He said in Benin that although 19 governorship candidates have been
\ncleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the
\nelections, \u201cit is no secret that the two main contending parties in this
\nelection are the All Progressives Congress, APC, (the party of the
\noutgoing governor and of the Federal Government of Nigeria) and our party,
\nthe PDP, which is the immediate past ruling party in Edo State.”<\/p>\n
Ize-Iyamu stated that “the PDP is interested in a free and fair election
\nwhere the votes of the people of Edo State will count and the party is
\nready to ensure that its main opponent, the APC, does not manipulate the
\npolls and results.<\/p>\n
“All we request is a level play field, which the incumbent has so far
\nfailed to provide. You must be aware of the obstacles they have put in our
\nway to prevent us from campaigning effectively as well as their denial of
\nour use of public facilities like venues, radio and television to reach
\nthe people. Even our billboards and posters are vandalized.”<\/p>\n
He therefore called on foreign embassies and High Commissions of countries
\nlike the\u00a0 United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia, China, France,
\nGermany, The Vatican, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands,
\nRussia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the European Union,
\nas well as agencies such as International Republican Institute, National
\nDemocratic Institute, USAID, DFID and Ford Foundation to ensure they
\nregister their teams with INEC as independent election monitors and
\nobservers.<\/p>\n
He expressed hope that with their presence, the voters will not be
\ndisenfranchised and the process will not be manipulated.<\/p>\n
According to him, “the PDP in Edo State places a high value on election
\nobservation across the State and would therefore welcome the presence of
\nobservers and monitoring teams to observe the forthcoming elections to
\nforestall any attempt by any party to truncate the democratic process.”
\nHe also requested the embassies to appeal to the President Muhammadu
\nBuhari not to militarize Edo State during this period so as to avoid
\nchaos.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe your appeal to the Federal Government, INEC, the Judiciary, The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the September 10 election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu has asked foreign missions and agencies in Nigeria to send observers and monitors to ensure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nArmy, Police and other security agencies will go a long way in ensuring
\nthat there is free, fair and credible election and that there will be
\npeace in Edo State before, during andafter the governorship election on
\nSeptember 10<\/span><\/span>,” Ize-Iyamu said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"