Presidential visit: PDP raises alarm over video leakage of Oshiomhole’s secret plot for police arrest of Edo leaders supporting Obaseki

Secretary of the National Campaign Council on Edo Governorship Election, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Tuesday, drew the attention of “the Buhari Presidency to the trending video showing the sacked National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, and the Chief of Staff to Mr. President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, at the Presidential Villa, in which discussion on the arrests of certain individuals, ahead of the September 19 governorship election.”

The party lamented that Nigerians were alarmed by the video in which Oshiomhole was seen emphatically urging the Chief of Staff to Mr. President on the need to clampdown on certain unnamed Nigerians to achieve political suppression and submission ahead of the Edo election.

The PDP declared: “Our National Campaign holds that the presence and involvement of the Chief of Staff to the President and the fact that the discussion held within the precincts of the Presidential Villa, have made the Presidency complicit and place a huge burden on President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Already, there is anxiety in the public space that the discussion between Oshiomhole and Prof. Gambari as captured in the video is an extension of discussions that must  have held behind closed doors in the Presidential villa.

“The video has validated earlier revelations of plots by Oshiomhole and the discredited APC governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, to use compromised security operatives being mobilized by certain individuals in the Presidency, to arrest innocent Nigerians, including traditional, faith-based and community leaders on trumped up charges, ahead of the Edo election.

“It also confirms our stance that Adams Oshiomhole and the APC candidate have completely lost ground in Edo State, hence, the plot to clamp down on the people.

“Nigerians and the people of Edo State now know those to hold responsible should there be cases of illegal arrests, assassinations and unexplained killings, sudden disappearances of prominent people, accidental discharge by federal security operatives and mysterious accidents in the course of this Edo governorship election.”

The PDP National Campaign Council on Edo governorship election, therefore, charged President Buhari to reassure Nigerians by immediately ordering that Adams Oshiomhole and Prof. Gambari be pulled in for questioning over the video.

“Anything short of a decisive action on this matter will further indict the Buhari Presidency, especially, coming on the heels of public anxiety over Mr. President’s widely condemned comment on the use of security forces for elections,” the PDP protested.

“Our Campaign, however, wants the APC and Oshiomhole to know that their ignoble plots against the people of Edo State have come to naught as the people are at alert and will use every legitimate means available to defend their already expressed will in support of the candidate of our party, the PDP, Governor Obaseki in this election,” the Campaign Council Secretary said.