PDP governorship aspirant, Ojezua, alleges Edo ward congress marred by fraud

One of the aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants in Edo State, Chief Anselm Ojezua, said on Friday last weekend’s ward congress in the state was not credible.

The party on Monday cancelled the Etsako Central ward delegates’ election in Edo State over the alleged kidnap of nine electoral officers by suspected thugs.

Ojezua, who spoke with journalists in Abuja, said only two officials conducted the election in 192 wards in the state.

He described the exercise as a mockery of the party’s regulations and processes, saying the result sheets in all 102 wards were signed by only two officers.

Ojezua said nine out of the 10 aspirants were excluded from the exercise and only saw the result sheets when they arrived in Abuja to file an appeal against the process.

He stressed that the sheets were signed by the chairman of the ward congress committee, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, and the secretary of the committee.

READ ALSO: INEC confirms 16 parties for Edo governorship election

“What I find more disturbing is that the chairman came in, midway into the exercise and he went to two locations.

“It was when he came he made a call to the deputy governor who is one of the aspirants, informing him that he has just arrived and would love to meet with the aspirants.

“We waited and the next day at about 4:00 p.m. or thereabout we saw him on television saying that he has been to two locations and that the process is free and fair,“ the aspirant stated.

Ojezua who moved from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP with Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2020, alleged that the entire ward congress was fraught with irregularities.

“It was when we got to Abuja to lodge our joint appeal that time we saw the result sheets and discovered that two persons conducted the election in 192 wards simultaneously.

“All the result sheets were not signed by the electoral officers. Not one of them. All of them were signed by Governor Peter Mbah and the committee secretary,” he concluded.

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