By Dele Moses, Ilorin
Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has hailed result of the Edo state governorship election describing it as prevalence of wish of the people against determination of power monger who wanted to foist their choice on the state.
Saraki who is a national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stated this in his reaction to the governorship election won by the PDP candidate and the incumbent governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki who, with a wide margin, defeated his closest opponent, Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Party (APC).
The former Senate President in a statement containing his reaction congratulated Obaseki and the people of Edo state for the outcome of the election and the peaceful atmosphere under which the poll was conducted.
He said while there was an apparent neutrality of the electoral body and security agents in the election the poll was not fraught with malpractices that could mar its credibility.
Saraki described the election result as a victory for the country and her people and said that the people had shown that the glory of the country is more valuable to the citizens than ” the wish of a tiny power clique”
He statement reads: “I congratulate my friend and brother, Governor Godwin Obaseki on his re-election as the Governor of Edo State.
“The result of the Edo gubernatorial election represents the true wish of the people who stood firmly behind their Governor against power mongers who were determined to foist their choice on the people. It represents the will of the people to vote in free, fair, credible and peaceful elections.
“The people of Edo State who had sleepless nights in order to protect their votes, those who rejected the cash being thrown around to buy their votes and the intimidation to force them to compromise their belief, deserve our praise. Therefore, my congratulations go to all the people of Edo State.
“Let me give kudos to the leaders and governors in our party, the PDP, for working together to achieve this victory. The PDP leaders and members in Edo State who whole-heartedly accepted Governor Obaseki since he joined the party and co-operated with him to bring about this victory deserve to be appreciated.
“The result of the just concluded election also represents the fact that our people actually desire to be governed by a truly democratic government headed by those they genuinely voted for. It represents the fact that our security and electoral officials can conduct free and fair elections if they have the right atmosphere. We are happy that throughout this election we did not see the military brutalizing the people or security officials supervising the snatching of ballot boxes and vandalization of votes. Thus, the military and other security agencies deserve commendation for this successful poll.
“We also saw how the INEC officials maturely handled the complaints of the APC agent who sought to create confusion at the state collation centre when the Orihomwon Local Government result was about to be declared. The INEC and its officials deserve to be commended for their neutrality in this election.
“We can see that the result represents realistic figures from one local government area to the other. No case of outlandish figures being reeled out. That is also a sign of some level of credibility in the process. It is for the above reasons that I have to commend President Muhammadu Buhari for keeping the military out of this election and for giving the instructions that led to the apparent neutrality of members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other security officials in the entire process.
“The Edo election result is a victory for our country, her people and democracy. We have shown that the glory of the country is more valuable to the citizens than the wish of a tiny power clique.
“Finally, I call on Governor Godwin Obaseki to see his his re-election as an opportunity to deliver on his campaign promises and to continually work to actualize the wishes and aspirations of the Edo people.