I will win the poll with 75% votes -Obaseki

AGENE GODWIN, Benin

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the September 28, 2016 Governorship election in Edo state, Mr. Godwin Obaseki Thursday said he is sure of victory in the rescheduled poll just as he expressed confidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, will conduct a credible election.

He said from all indications his party will win with a margin of 75% just as he added that areas that were perceived to be the opposition’s stronghold have been penetrated by the APC.

Obaseki, who made this known in a chat with newsmen in Benin said “From all the feelers we are getting from across the state, the indication is that we will win by 75 per cent. That is what the last exit poll I monitored last night indicated.

“Particularly in Edo south, things have improved quite significantly from the last poll that we received. Edo Central has been very interesting.

“The amount of defection from the PDP has essentially crumbled the opposition party in the central. And even in their strongholds, we are beginning to see them very jittery and in Edo north, apart from few units in Akoko-Edo and one unit in Owan East, it is essentially unlocked down for us so from what we can see today, barring any unforeseen circumstances, barring violence that will scare people from the poll and barring any attempt by the opposition party to cause disruptions in some highly populated voting units so that the results from those units will be inconclusive, we believe that we are very comfortable.

“I believe in the integrity of INEC as an institution, they have conducted elections, they have been the bastion of our democracy over the last 17 years and you have to give kudos to them and like any umpire, they will get bashing from the people who have lost but I believe that they have lived largely up to their responsibilities. I know that they have done a lot of work. I am impressed with the arrangements that have been made but that is not to say that they have been superhuman since this is a human institution, there is still bound to be a few loose ends that still needs to be tidied up.

“But so far so good, you still have a lot of information flying around, stories and innuendos about goings on and people trying to insinuate that there are corrupt practices within the institution but by and large I just feel they know their responsibilities.

“So far from what they have done, I am satisfied. We have sent petitions to them about information we have about opposition members being accredited as observers. It is an issue that we expect them to look into. Our allegation that opposition has access to some result sheets, we have asked them to investigate. I don’t believe that the INEC is as porous as being alleged.”