The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Sunday faulted the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) stance on the new administration of Governor Monday Okpebholo, who was elected on September 21, as the governor of the state under the banner of the APC.
The Edo APC insisted that going by the criticism of the three-week-old Okpebholo-administration, it was obvious that the PDP lacked today’s governance realities.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s state secretariat, the acting state chairman of the party, Jarret Tenebe, said that the landmark projects Okpebholo had embarked upon like the Ramat Park Fly Over, which the PDP had criticised, were captured in the reviewed budget of 2024 and that the alleged attack on its secretariat was a case the now opposition party cannot substantiate.
This was just as the party carpeted the PDP’s stance that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), compromised its Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), during the September 21 governorship election that ushered in the Okpebholo administration.
Tenebe noted that “The ignoble and violent traits of PDP which they exhibited before, during and after the election are the signposts of imperialistic disposition which the Edo people shall never pray to experience again.”
He also condemned what he called the public display of call to violence by some chieftains of the PDP during the campaigns if the party lost the election, a situation he said was enough to query their moral rights to challenge the result of an election they expressed desperation to win.
Tenebe said this call for violence even before the election resulted in ” the killing of the police inspector attached to the now governor” adding that the “PDP, still celebrating its failure has now embarked on a self-destructive voyage to criticise the government of distinguished Senator Monday Okpebholo that has surpassed the non-achievement of Governor Obaseki in eight years, having just been in office for a few days.”
He added that the chairman of PDP in Edo State, Dr Tony Azeigbemi from the press conference he had a few days ago only demonstrated that he had no knowledge of the implementation of the revised Appropriation Law 2024 of Edo State, where according to the APC chairman, “the flyover bridge can be captured in the open-ended parenthesis of the budget which accommodates for project of implicit and urgent importance.
“Edo people are now happy that a governor who understands their plights and is ready to tackle them head-on has come and they now know that what the PDP Government termed “impossible projects” like the flyovers are realizable by a government that is determined to work and not believe in MOUs which only existed on papers.”
On the alleged attack on the secretariat of the PDP, Tenebe said “It is most disgusting for the PDP to ascribe the criminal destruction that happened in their moribund secretariat to the APC.
“While the APC Government of His Excellency, Monday Okpebholo condemned any act of criminal tendencies like the alleged destruction of the PDP secretariat, it must be stated without equivocation that the said alleged act has no bearing with the APC.”
He said the allegation by the PDP that suspected APC members attacked the secretariat was a criminal allegation that must be proven beyond reasonable doubt “Therefore, we require the PDP to substantiate their allegations with undisputed facts so that the allegations should not remain in the realm of suspicion which has no place in our criminal statutes.
“The PDP must know that His Excellency, distinguished Senator Monday Okoebholo has put his hand on the plough and is ready to put Edo State on the map of progressives.”
The APC also frowned at the allegation by Azeigbemi that the NEC BVAS was compromised for the September 21st governorship election
The APC Chairman also carpeted a PDP Chieftain, Osita Chidoka’s claim that BIVAS and the electoral body were compromised during the election.
“We state unequivocally that there are two sets of BVAS machines in the INEC office. The one legitimately used by INEC for the Election and the manipulated machines that were smuggled into the office of INEC by the PDP.
“We therefore now more than ever before, call on the security agencies to investigate where the PDP got the manipulated BVAS machines from which they are circulating fake results since the same have been acknowledged in the public space.”
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