By Simon Ebegbulem
BENIN—Action Congress (AC) in Edo State, weekend, raised an alarm over alleged plans by the state’s Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the forthcoming re-run election into Etsako Central seat in the House of Assembly.

The party alleged that the plan was to remove INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak.

Vanguard gathered that the move to remove the electoral commissioner was based on a petition which accused him of bias during Akoko Edo re-run election in August last year.

However, AC, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Reti Uzzi, stated that “ once again, the PDP has perfected their rigging machine by using the instrumentality of INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, to remove the Electoral Commissioner in Edo State and replace him with one that will do their bidding.

“In their plan of action, they have enlisted the support of the Minister of Defence, who will deploy soldiers to intimidate AC members on the day of the election.

“The general is not receptive to the clandestine idea, but he is seriously under pressure. These PDP leaders have organized thugs to unleash mayhem on our people but our people will strongly resist them.”

AC appealed to security agents to “put in place effective machinery to monitor the inflow of illegal weapons in Edo State during the election.”