Postponement Of Edo Election: Nigeria’s democracy in danger, says Fayose

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has described the postponement of the Edo State governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission as a dangerous signal for the country’s democracy. A statement by Fayose’s Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, on Thursday, accused the All Progressives Congress of precipitating the postponement of the election.

The statement said, “I warned Nigerians not to elect President Muhammadu Buhari because he lacks the mental, moral and intellectual capacities to superintend any civilised society. We are all seeing the results. Our economy is in recession and democracy is also in recession.”

Fayose said INEC knew that it was not going to conduct the election on Saturday as scheduled but opted to deceive Nigerians.

He said, “Apart from the security agencies that they instructed not to provide security for the election, the Central Bank of Nigeria was under instruction since Wednesday not to release electoral materials to INEC.

“It was just a game by the APC-led Federal Government to frustrate the people of Edo State from beginning the journey of changing the APC one-chance change in Nigeria. “But they should realise that the power of the people will always be greater than the power of those in power.

“How can you postpone an election less than 48 hours to the scheduled date? What manner of security concerns could prevent an election in just one state when elections were held in North-East states that were confronted with Boko Haram insurgents?

“Obviously, this is a sign of what to come in 2019 and Nigerians should not be amazed if in 2019, they tell us that elections cannot be conducted.”

Fayose said the postponement of the election was a sad commentary on the nation’s democracy, warning that Nigeria’s democracy was on the verge of collapse.

He said, “This is sad. It is a sad commentary on democracy in Nigeria and I only hope this Buhari’s APC government will not collapse democracy in this country.”

He called on the people of Edo State to remain steadfast in their resolve to vote out the APC government, which he said had become a government of hunger, poverty, job loss, economic recession, insecurity and unprecedented sufferings.

The governor said; “Let them keep postponing their evil day. Edo people should just be vigilant and wait patiently for that day that they will use their votes to change the APC one-chance government.”