More than 42,000 security personnel have been deployed as Edo State elects a new governor on Wednesday.
A breakdown showed that the army will deploy 1,900 officers and soldiers while the police have moved 25,000 of its personnel to the state for the election.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), on its part, said a total of 15,250 personnel had been deployed to ensure a peaceful conduct of the election.
In addition, two drones are to be deployed in each of the three senatorial districts and six gunboats in the riverine areas.
A straight contest between Godwin Obaseki of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the election is one of the most acrimonious in Nigeria’s history.
Both parties were still accusing each other of plotting to scuttle the poll on the eve of the exercise.
The PDP on Tuesday accused the APC government of Governor Adams Oshiomhole and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of allegedly inducing election supervisors to compromise the outcome of the poll in nine out of the 18 local government areas.
Edo State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chris Nehikhare, who spoke to journalists in Benin, said the party had received information of an alleged distribution of N2m by a senior official of INEC to the supervisors on behalf of the state government.
Nehikhare, who also alleged that the results of the affected areas had “been written”, ready for announcement on Wednesday, vowed that the PDP and its supporters would resist with “the last drop of their blood” any attempt to switch election results.
Edo APC Chairman, Anselm Ojezua, described the claim as a figment of the imagination of the PDP.
“That is a figment of their imagination. They have lost the election already. I am the state chairman of APC. I have been in my home area for three days. So what time did I have to go and bribe INEC officials?
“If anything at all, it is the PDP people that know the INEC officials. After all, most of these INEC officials were employed during the PDP administration. We have trained our agents and they are determined to be very vigilant.
“The truth is that all the plans by PDP to create havoc in Edo State have virtually failed. All the efforts they have made to manipulate the process have also failed. They can now see that there is nothing other than the true transparent process that will give us results in this election,” he said.
INEC dismissed allegations by both parties.
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR), made up of over 70 civil society groups taking part in the monitoring of the governorship election, stated that the parties would be held liable for their supporters’ activities that triggered violence during the poll.
Addressing journalists in Benin on Tuesday, NCSSR Convener, Clement Nwankwo, said election observers had been deployed in the 18 local government areas of the state for the election.
Referring to a statement by INEC that it was ready for the election, Nwankwo said the Situation Room would hold the electoral umpire accountable for conduct of the exercise.
A pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Ize-Iyamu was secretary to the Edo State Government from 2003 to 2007.
He was the national vice chairman, south-south zone of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and director-general of Oshiomhole’s second term campaign organisation.
He was also the coordinator of the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation in the 2015 presidential election.
Obaseki served as the Chairman of the Economic and Strategy Team (EST) of Edo State until recently when he reigned to vie for the governorship of the state.
He held the position of the EST chairman for over seven years starting from March 17, 2009.
At the national level, Obaseki served on the Presidential Committee on the Reform of the Nigerian Pension System; the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission Committee on the Re-activation of the Nigerian Bond Market and the review of the Investment and Securities Act. He served as a member of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Council between 2006 and 2009.
