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Sylvester Idowu in Warri 

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Chief Ayirimi Emami, has accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of planning to manipulate Saturday, July 13 local government elections in the state.

The chieftain gave the warning Monday during the APC local government campaign rally at Ogbe-ijoh in Warri South-West and Koko, Warri North Local Government Areas of the state.

He warned that any attempt to disenfranchise voters in Delta South Senatorial District would be resisted. 

Emami, while addressing a mammoth crowd at Ogbe-ijoh where he is supporting Comrade Bene Mamamu as the party chairmanship candidate for Warri South West, said they should not lose hope in the forthcoming election.

He repeated the same message in Koko where he also led a team of the party’s leadership in the senatorial district to campaign for Chief Samuel Omamuli as the chairmanship candidate for Warri North.

The party chieftain said that he had been inundated with calls that PDP candidates were boasting that the elections were already concluded ahead of Saturday.

“Some of us are very sure that if they bring materials, people will not vote PDP in this state. If you see all my statements in the places I have gone for campaign, I say this people say they want state police.

“They clamour that there is insecurity and they want state policing but just this little assignment that is being given to the state governments to conduct local government elections they sit in their bedroom and write result and appoint people.

“But we think the cases would be different in Delta. Whether they will write their results or not, we need to be on ground to resist them. We need to come out, talk to our members to be on guard, let it be that they didn’t bring materials on that day but if they bring materials, I am confident that our candidates will definitely win,” he said.

Ayiri stated that the party leadership were campaigning for APC councillors and Chairmanship candidates in the three Warri councils assuring that they were also supporting any local government Chairmanship candidate who have that confidence to partake in the election in the state.

He reiterated that the reason why he was canvassing vigorously for ordinary Nigerians and the National Assembly to support President Bola Tinubu for local government autonomy was because of issues of local government election manipulation and rigging by state governments.

Emami contended that if state governments cannot handle local government elections without bias, there was no way they can manage state police which they have been agitating about.

“They want state police, but they can’t even conduct a free and fair local government election.

“If they can’t handle this small assignment, how can they manage state police? We need to support President Tinubu’s call for local government autonomy to prevent manipulation and rigging,” he added

Emami also urged the National Assembly to support local government autonomy, saying: “If there is local government autonomy, all these plots and plans would stop. We need to ensure that the election is free and fair, and we will resist any attempt to manipulate the process.”

The APC chieftain, who was assisted by the Delta South Senatorial District chairman of the party to formally present the party’s flag to Comrade Bene Mamamu, the chairmanship candidate for Warri South West, and Chief Samuel Omamuli, the chairmanship candidate for Warri North, boasted that APC would coast to victory, adding that the opposition would not be allowed to carry out any act of manipulation.

“APC will participate in the local government elections if the process is free and fair. The party would be observant. We will bring all notable television stations here to notify the world if materials get to the polling units or not.

“We are ready for the chairmanship election. We don’t believe in handpicking and writing results. The opposition does not have someone with the capacity to match our candidate”, he said.

While receiving the party’s flag, Mamamu and Omamuli, at different campaign rallies,  appealed to the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) to conduct a transparent election.

The expressed confidence of winning if the conduct of the elections were free and fair.