Edo Govt Alleges Plot To Cause Pre-Election Violence In The State

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News, Nigeria 2015 Election Thursday, February 19th, 2015

FROM IGNATIUS OKPARA, Benin City – As the new dates for the Nigeria’s general elections approaches, the Edo State Government has raised the alarm of what it described as an alleged “evil plot” by anti-democratic elements to“unleash terror” on innocent citizens of the state.

Commissioner for Information and Orientation in the state, Mr. Louis Odion, in a statement made available to newsmen Thursday evening, in Benin city, the state capital said the state government learnt that the perpetrators are planning to foment violence by way of high-profile killings to intimidate the All Progressives Congress APC, prior to the March 28 and April 11 polls.‎

According to the statement, “The objective, we gathered, is not only to sow fear in the minds of the teeming supporters of All Progressives Congress, but also make the state ungovernable for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

“The new evil agenda is akin to the one unleashed in 2012 ahead of the governorship election in which the Principal Private Secretary to the Comrade Governor, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, was brutally murdered.

“Till date, the killers are yet to be brought to justice,” the statement noted.

The state spokesman, equally alleged that those targeted were key figures in the Governor Adams Oshiomhole led administration,

“APC leaders, a vocal palace chief, as well as journalists considered too independent-minded and unwilling to file fabricated stories to promote PDP.”

The statement however, urged citizens ‎ of the state to remain calm and law abiding, adding that the state government had directed security agencies in the state to carry out investigations and “bring all those hatching the evil plot to book.