A human rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) has attributed the success of the just-concluded Edo governorship election to the threat by the United State to ban election riggers in Nigeria from entering their country.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Intersociety, Mr Emeka Umeagbalasi in a press statement in Awka said all those reputed for rigging elections in Nigeria were still ready to replicate it in Edo but were stopped after the announcement by the US and the UK.
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He said, ‘The popular and credible outcome of the just conducted and concluded governorship Election in Edo State, South-South Nigeria is not as a result of the change of heart or repentance’ by the country’s ‘doyens of election rigging’.
‘It is the international entry visa denial or threat of same by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom and their allies; targeting the country’s malevolent political leaders and actors that stopped them,’ he said.
He said those he referred to as the doyen of election riggers in Nigeria would have declared the Edo governorship poll inconclusive, save for the threat by both the US and the UK.
‘In the Edo State governorship poll, the hands of the “poll rigging doyens” were tied especially when their attempts to use compromised and asymmetrically composed security agencies in the country to intimidate and scare away ‘independent voters’ failed woefully.’
‘With US and UK entry visa ban starring on their faces like ‘Trojan Virus’, they were forced to yield and in the end, it was 307, 995 ‘living votes’ for Godwin Obaseki and 223,619 votes for Osagie Ize-Iyamu.’
‘This was possible because the greatest ‘crime’ anybody or group can ‘perpetrate’ against Nigeria’s malevolent political leaders and actors including ‘doyens of election rigging’ and their parastatal, security and judicial establishment counterparts is to ban or stop them and their families from travelling overseas particularly to the western capitals and cities.’
The group commended the US and UK governments, saying that they deserve commendation for the success of the Edo governorship poll.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK