Few hours to the commencement of the rescheduled general elections, security agencies in Edo State, have apprehended a suspect in Oredo Local Government Area for being in possession of 2000 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs).
Edwin Edosomwan was apprehended in Iyekogba axis of Oredo Local Government with the PVCs which IMPACT learnt were purchased from residents in Iyekogba, Oredo Ward 2.
Edosomwan who was nabbed on Thursday evening, allegedly claimed he was a mobiliser for one of the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contesting in Saturday’s elections.
The development is coming less than 24 hours after a Benin-based research group, Edo Socio-Political Research Group, released findings of a study on PVC collection in the state, which showed that some candidates of the PDP had engaged in ‘systemic rigging.’
In the study, it was discovered that there was a dubious rate of PVC collection in Oredo and Ovia North East, areas where the PDP candidates in the state would vote. The research showed that the two local councils were outliers in the rate of PVC collection, while the trend seemed normal in the 16 other local councils.
Edosomwan was caught in Oredo local council, one of the councils that the Edo Socio-Political Research Group had raised the alarm of a possible plot of ‘systemic rigging.’
Speaking to reporters while being paraded by security operatives, Mr. Edosomwan allegedly claimed to be a member of the ‘Operation Show Your Result’ team, a support group for the candidate of the PDP for Oredo Federal Constituency, Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide Ihama.
He said he was mandated to get as many PVCs of eligible voters as possible within Oredo Federal Constituency with the aim of buying over their votes.
He added that he bought the PVCs for as low as 5000 naira per PVC, noting that he and members of his campaign group have been instructed to deliver their units at all costs.
Mr. Edosomwan was later taken in by law enforcement agencies for further interrogation.
