PDP Chieftain decries DSS harassment of party members in Edo North

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Jarret Tenebe has described the harassment he received  by men of the Department of the State Security (DSS) as undemocratic and a ploy to frustrate members of his party in the state.

BusinessDay reports that the PDP agent for Etsako West local government in the governorship election was harassed by several officials of the security agents at ward 12 unit 1 located at Ikabigbo primary school in Etsako West local government area.

The security operatives who were already stationed at the voting centre in unison swooped on the PDP chieftain, ordered him out of his car and searched it thoroughly.

The PDP chieftain who identified himself as the local government agent for the party wondered why the security operatives were after PDP members.

He alleged that his guest house was burnt down recently before the election, noting that in spite of the intimidation PDP was sure of victory.

“You can see the way they harass me now for no just cause. I am their target but they did not find anything incriminating on me. I don’t know why I was ridicule, but I assured you that we would spring a surprise,” he said.
Besides, there are allegations and counter allegation of inducing voters with money by both political parties”, he said.
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress and former Secretary to Edo State Governor, Samuel Imuekemhe, has described the simultaneous accreditation and voting introduced by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) as a good innovation in our electoral system.

Imuekhe gave the commendation shortly after casting his vote at ward 12 unit 1 in Ikabigbo community in Esako West local government of Edo state.
He said “in the past some people would be accredited but failed to turn up for voting as a result of accreditation first and vote late,”
.
“The election is very peaceful and the turn out very impressive. If the processes continue like this, I believe that the will of the people would prevail,” he said.

He however attributed the major challenge in the area to malfunctioning of the card readers, saying that they are determine to make sure they go through the process despite the challenges.

He also frowned at the security situation which he said was not too encouraging, saying that though there are security personnel at the polling units but there is less patrol of security agencies on the road.

“We expect that there are supposed to be enough security patrol especially areas where you have flash points. In our area where there are two strong party leaders on both parties, I think there are supposed to be enough security patrol,”

Some voters in an interview across the three senatorial districts alleged that the parties are inducing voters with between N2000, N3000 and N5000.