The leader of INRI Evangelical spiritual church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, on Monday, issued what he termed a “final warning” to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, ahead of the governorship election on September 19, 2020.
Primate Ayodele warned the state governor against being relaxed, adding that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate should fight against every form of manipulation.
In a statement he forwarded, the clergyman urged Obaseki to ensure he wins the election through the ballot box because courts won’t favour him.
He said Obaseki should unleash his arsenal to fight against manipulation and disenfranchisement in the election.
Primate Ayodele warned that Obaseki may end up in jail and his political career gone if he fails to win the election.
The statement reads:
“People are supporting Obaseki but those people might not be allowed to vote, he needs to be rugged else he will be eased out, if he takes any simplicity method, he will lose out.
“There will be manipulations in the election. If he isn’t careful, his victory will be given to someone else, even if he appeals the case, he won’t be given. He must not allow manipulations in the election. If he loses, he will be forever irrelevant in politics.
“They have already prepared the manipulation process to ease him out, he shouldn’t be carried away by the crowd he sees at the moment, He needs to work against the manipulation technically and pack his arsenal together to battle against APC and Ize Iyamu.
“They will want to steal of ballot boxes, they want to disenfranchise people, he must have committed people in polling units, he shouldn’t accept anything inconclusive, if he allows Ize-Iyamu to win, he is gone politically and jail is waiting for him, he should ensure he wins, because if he thinks the court will later rule in his favour after the election, It’s won’t work, it’s better he wins right from the election than taking Ize-Iyamu to court.”
In Edo State, Oshiomhole has dug his political grave. Oshiomhole has no business fighting Obaseki’s re-election. He could have disciplined the governor in another form. Only manipulation will take Obaseki out of power. If the election is free and fair, Obaseki will come back 10 times. So, Obaseki must work hard against manipulation of the election to be able to retain the seat. Ize-Iyamu will not be a stable candidate for Edo State. But if they force Ize-Iyamu to rig the election, he and Oshiomhole will fight dirtier than we are currently witnessing between Oshiomhole and Obaseki.
I predicted it in 2016, when Oshiomhole picked Obaseki, I said the two would fight seriously. Now, I am saying that if they rig Ize-Iyamu in, Edo would witness a fierce tug of war between Oshiomhole and Ize-Iyamu. But from all indications, the pendulum is swinging in Obaseki’s direction. Notwithstanding, the election is going to be volatile. There will be rigging, killing and all manners of illegalities to manipulate the exercise.