SAN FRANCISCO, October 13, (THEWILL) – Still basking in the euphoria of its victory in the just concluded Delta Central Senatorial district by-election won by its candidate, Chief Emmanuel Agwariavwodo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday embarked on a celebration of its victory as it taunted other parties in the election for losing the election.
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who hosted the party’s faithful early Sunday at his Warri residence to celebrate the victory, described the result as ‘fantastic’.
Aguariavwodo , who polled 263,024 votes to defeat other candidates, was declared the Senator-elect by INEC’s Returning Officer, Prof. John Arubayi, who said Mr O’tega Emerhor of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 29,075 votes to emerge second, while Mr. Ede Dafinone of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) followed with 29,055 votes.
But the APC and DPP are calling for the cancellation of the results, saying the exercise was marred by “serious irregularities”.
Uduaghan, who said the PDP had worked hard to recapture the senatorial district which was under the control of late Senator Pius Ewherido of the DPP, said: “Where is their (opposition) strength? All those who won in those other parties were PDP members who left. The so called opposition has collapsed.”
He ascribed the victory to the party’s reconciliation efforts, saying the PDP has regained its lost territory in the senatorial district.
“We are happy PDP had regained its lost territory. This victory was because over a year now, we had started a reconciliation process and this shows that the reconciliation is total.
“This (victory) is because for over a year we have embarked on reconciliation with all our aggrieved members and that reconciliation was tested yesterday (Saturday).
“We spoke with one voice; victory was no magic,” he said, adding; “anybody who had won election in other party were PDP members, now we have won everybody back and all the other parties have collapsed.”
The governor said the internal wrangling in the PDP in the past had strengthened the opposition but the victory of Aguariavwodo in the Delta Central is a sign that the party is back on track now.
He expressed gratitude to those who stepped down for Aguariavwodo during the party’s primaries, saying: “The system starts from consensus to primary and I am happy some people understood this while others didn’t.
“Everybody was involved whether you wanted the position before or not we have to abide by the system. So in moving forward, we have to remain united. But the victory is a bigger challenge for us.
“We have built a strong Ward structure and that structure we must strengthened. Let’s go back to our Ward and oil the party machinery in our various wards.
“We must engineer the ward chairmen, let’s now give the power to the ward chairman, let the power evolve around our party ward chairman and if we do that, by the time we hold our council election no one can ever beat us.”
At the event, which was preceded by a sermon delivered by Pastor Powell Ojogho who emphasised the need for members of the party to speak in one voice, the state PDP Chairman, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, commended Uduaghan for engendering the new found unity in the party.
Main Opposition Parties Demand Cancellation Of Poll Result
While the APC candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, described the election as the “worst in the present democratic dispensation,” the DPP candidate, Chief Ede Dafinone, described the election as “a clear case of naked criminality; not an election.”
Addressing newsmen in Warri, Emerhor said: “I hereby place it on record that no bye-election took place. What took place was a sham calculated to select a senator by the government and all its agencies working together to achieve this nefarious and predetermined outcome.”
Emerhor said INEC deferred its responsibility to conduct the election to the state government controlled by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
“The whole environment was militarised with roadblocks where voters were intimidated to stay at home and clear of polling units.
“The Nigerian Army supervised snatching of ballot papers by the PDP stalwarts and thugs with the army giving them covering fire.
“In places that were not strongholds of the PDP, the INEC found every reason in the book to bungle the exercise, including but not limited to the lame excuse by NYSC that their allowances for the training must be paid,” he stated.
Emerhor alleged that some very top officials of the state government and members of the ruling PDP of supervised the thumb printing of ballot papers in their private homes.
He also alleged that politicians were aided by dozens of Anti Terror Squad of the Nigerian Police Force, who rode in two vans to rig in Orogun in Ughelli North Local Government Area at about 2:am on Sunday at the collation centre in Ughelli town.
Also addressing journalists in Warri, DPP candidate, Dafinone described the election as “a clear case of naked criminality; not an election”.
He said: “It is a clear case of the government imposing Chief Emmanuel Agwariavwodo on Delta Central in the same manner and style he was imposed on his party.
“We reject whatever result was announced by INEC as it is not a true reflection of the democratic will of our people. We call for an outright cancellation of the said election and any fake result arising from same.
“Our agents were openly shot at and maimed yesterday, as it was in 2003 and 2007, we are able to say that the days where elections are gun wars are back.
“Because INEC officials and NYSC ad hoc personnel bluntly refused to go out to conduct the election in several places, we are also able to categorically say that government, through these agencies, decided the outcome of the election in a clearly premeditated manner.
“Because security personnel openly flogged and beat up our agents and supporters everywhere without justification, we are able to say that violent bias was used as a tool to coerce our supporters to abandon polling stations.
“There was no election, as defined by our laws. The scale of impunity, assault, molestations and violence by the PDP, thugs/cultists and the supposed security agents was just unimaginable.
“The lopsided and partisan involvement of state security apparatuses in supporting the PDP and the brazen use of thugs to unleash violence and mayhem on our party members and the electorate is unprecedented.
“Thus there is now very serious concerns for the progress of our nascent democracy and diminishing hope for peace, unity and good governance of Nigeria now and in the immediate future.”
