Barely seven days to the Edo State Governorship election, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, says it would defend the votes of its candidate with its blood against rigging by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
DAILY POST reports that the acting national chairman of the party, Ambassador Umar Damagun gave the warning on Saturday at the grand finale of the party’s campaign rally in Benin City.
Damagun warned INEC against announcing the results in the midnight, threatening that they would defend the results with their blood.
According to him, “please, I enjoin you that we don’t want that midnight results announcement. We will be vigilant, on top of the situation, and we will make sure that that doesn’t happen.
“We are issuing this and it is not a threat, but we are very very serious and we will defend our votes with our blood and everything.”.
The Acting National Chairman of the party also called on security agencies to be neutral and give all political parties a level playing field.
He noted that they would submit themselves for the security agencies to be killed and arrested if they worked in favour of any political party.
“I want to use this opportunity to tell our security agencies that you are being paid with taxpayers’ money. You have to accord the values for which you are created. Protect Nigerians, ensure justice and make sure that everyone is safe.
“A situation whereby you decide to take part in favour of any political party, let me make this very clear that you have to kill or arrest all of us if you have to take this state.
“We will be here and be with our party, and we are also ready to give our vote and blood for our right. I want to make this very clear, you may have the guns but we have God”, he stated.
While urging Nigerians to be concerned with the next week’s governorship election in the state, he opined that it would be a test for the nation’s democracy.
He noted that the party would resist INEC if it failed to conduct a credible, fair and free election, noting that any contrary would lead to anarchy.
Earlier, the Chairman, National Campaign Council, Edo 2024 Governorship Election, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri warned against any compromise of the electoral process.
Fintiri also vowed that nobody can intimidate the party, as well as rig the election against their candidate, Barrister Asue Ighodalo.
The Governor of Adamawa State, who described Edo as the cradle of civilization and intellectualism in the country, urged the electorate to come out en masse to vote for the party’s governorship candidate.
Speaking shortly after being presented with the flag of the party, Asue Ighodalo, the governorship candidate of the party, promised to build and consolidate on the achievements of Governor Obaseki when elected.
Ighodalo added that like the governors of the party, he would fight battles to win the governorship election.
“All our governors, that is the PDP governors, fight battles to win their elections. None of them get it easy to win their elections.
“That shows that the PDP is a party of courage. That is the same battle that Osarodion Ogie and I will fight to win the election”, he added.