Adams Oshiomole, former labor leader and incumbent Governor of Edo state said he has reasons to believe that the People's Democratic Party (PDP) brought in merceneries to register to get voters' cards in Edo state. He said this act would cause a lot of problems in the electoral system.
Adams Oshiomole, former labor leader and incumbent Governor of Edo state said he has reasons to believe that the People's Democratic Party (PDP) brought in merceneries to register to get voters' cards in Edo state. He said this act would cause a lot of problems in the electoral system. These are his words:
“I have heard that some politicians are bringing in people from neighbouring states and I find that very strange. I was told that somewhere in Uromi, a PDP Leader brought in soldiers to provide escort while they brought in people with buses from neighbouring states to register in one of the Wards in Uromi and I find that very worrisome because the whole idea is not to import mercenary voters.
“I can understand if someone who is resident outside his village wants to go back to the village for the purpose of election but the villagers know everybody. So, when you now import people who are not from the village and register them, that distorts the numbers and creates problems. It creates problem for the electoral system.
“I want to appeal strongly to INEC to have a way of monitoring the exercise to ensure that there are no mercenary voters. In Uromi, the leaders protested when the politician brought the mercenaries to register, but because of the soldiers that were escorting them, they had to leave. And these people were brought in with several buses, they were brought in buses owned by a popular transport company. This is very disturbing and I hope that INEC will check these kind of malpractices.”