Controversy raged on Monday over the January 23 rerun poll into the vacant seat of the Etsako Central at the Edo State House of Assembly as the Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Godwin Abbe (rtd.), said that Governor Adams Oshiomhole was blackmailing him.

Abbe was reacting to the claim by Oshiomhole on Sunday that he (Abbe) ordered the troops of Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, Operation Restore Hope, out of Edo State in order to facilitate the rigging of the election in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The minister, a member of the PDP, hails from Edo State.

Oshiomhole also received a hard knock from the state chapter of the PDP which accused him of attempting to influence the rerun election.

Oshiomhole had, at a rally of the Action Congress in Fugar, Etsako Central, accused Abbe; a member of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih; and a former Governor of the State, Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor; of hatching plans to manipulate the poll in favour of the PDP.

The governor said the withdrawal of troops from the poll was part of the steps being taken to rig the election and threatened to report the three men to Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan.

However, Abbe, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondent, on Monday, said the federal troops were not pulled out of Edo State.

Abbe said the JTF was directed to hand-off election monitoring for the police, adding that Oshiomhole probably planned to engage the soldiers for fraudulent practices during the election.

Abbe said, “The governor is blackmailing me unnecessarily. This is unnecessary blackmail. Does he want to use soldiers for election? Police are for election and not soldiers and that is why we decided that soldiers should not be used for the election.

“We want to make sure that the police are allowed to do their jobs because the Inspector General of Police has the responsibility for maintenance of law and order in the country. Soldiers should not be involved in election.

“But they (soldiers) are still in Benin, they are still in Edo State. They have not been withdrawn from the state as insinuated by the governor. They are just not going to participate in the election.”

In Benin, leadership of the PDP in Edo State on Monday responded to the alarm raised the previous day by Oshiomhole, commending the Federal Government for withdrawing the soldiers.

The previous day, Oshiomhole had raised the alarm over plans by the opposition to destabilise the state with the sudden withdrawal of soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force of military and police which his administration had created with the approval of President Musa Yar’Adua.

The party addressed a press conference at its state secretariat at Ikpoba Slope , Benin , where it stated its position as it regards the withdrawal of the JTF soldiers by Abbe.

Speaking at the occasion, the Edo State PDP Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, said Abbe might have ordered the withdrawal of the soldiers in line with an earlier alarm raised by Oshiomhole that the soldiers were going to be used to rig the forthcoming re-run election in Etsako Central Local Government Area.

The PDP Chairman also accused the government of attempting to influence the election through the alleged bribing of senior police officers with N130, 000 each at a recent meeting that was held with Oshiomhole.

However, the government has denied the allegation of allegedly bribing the police urging Orbih to state where and when the meeting with the police was held.

Orbih said, “The Edo State PDP is surprised at the recent outcry of the State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole accusing the PDP of masterminding the recent withdrawal of soldiers from the joint task force constituted by the governor last year.”

“Oshiomhole late last year accused the PDP Edo State Chapter of planning to use soldiers to cause mayhem and rig the election into the State House of Assembly in Etsako Central constituency scheduled for Saturday January 23, 2010.”

“Based on the possible outcry of Oshiomhole and his accusation of the PDP, the Federal Government has thought it wise to withdraw the soldiers from the JTF constituted by Oshiomhole himself to avoid temptation of according to Oshiomhole, the PDp using them to cause mayhem and rig the election.”

While denying that the PDP was up to any unholy agenda to rig the election and cause violence, Orbih advised the Governor to stop his “frivolous and unsubstantiated accusation of the PDP and their leaders” and, instead, “stick to his one-man, one-vote slogan” in the forthcoming election.

He added, “The PDP is indeed prepared for fairness and equity in the forthcoming re-run election, for indeed it is the party that is firmly rooted on these foundations.”

On the road construction linking Ekperi and Anegbete, which Oshiomhole had flagged-off on Saturday, Orbih said the road has no provision in the budget.

Specifically denying the allegation that the PDP was planning to use any federal might rooted on military force, Orbih accused Oshiomhole of allegedly bribing all senior police officers that attended a recent meeting with him with about N130, 000 each.

He said, “We have it on good authority that about N130, 000 was given out all senior police officers including DPOs that attended a recent meeting with the governor on the eve of an election. Why is it that it is now that he is giving out such money to police officers?”

But in his exclusively granted reaction to the allegation, Edo State Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Mobilization, Hon. Abdul Oroh denied that Governor Oshiomhole specifically met with police officers whether senior or junior.

Oroh said, “The PDP should state where and when such meeting was held. The Governor does not meet with police officers of the ranks of Sergeant, DPOs etc. As the Chief Security Officer, he holds security meeting with the Edo State Security Council, which membership is made up of heads and top officers of the various security agencies. On this basis, you will see that there is no truth whatsoever in the allegation.”

Asked how the government was planning to secure the lives and properties on the days of the election at Etsako Central, Oroh said the government will be relying on the service of the Nigeria Police Force now that the FG has withdrawn soldiers that were initially attached to the JTF.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201001192481928

My guy,
please dont dabble into issues you dont know. The JTF has been withdrawn. Its common knowlegde!! Maybe its the reactions from the general public that is making general abbe to now retract his earlier statement.
Bottomline is JTF was withdrawn and the question is- WHY WOULD ANYONE WITHDRAW SECURITY FROM AN ELECTION RE-RUN?