The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, has described Saturday’s House of Representatives by-election into Ekiti, Isin, Irepodun and Oke-Ero Federal Constituency as a contest between the Peoples Democratic Party and security agents rather than among political parties, even as he expressed confidence of the party’s victory.
Ahmed, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Dr Muyideen Akorede, said reports available to him from the four local government areas in which elections were held indicated widespread harassment, arrests and intimidation of PDP members and supporters by security personnel.
Governor Ahmed, however, commended PDP members and supporters across the federal constituency for standing their ground and defying the threats posed by the security agents by coming out to exercise their franchise at the risk of harm and arrest.
He said the heightened fear and intimidation orchestrated against PDP members and supporters and abetted by security agents led to voter apathy and poor turnout in the areas that are traditional strongholds of the party.
Ahmed expressed confidence, however, that the PDP will still emerge victorious in the by-election despite the large-scale disenfranchisement of its supporters during the election by those with the constitutional mandate to protect them.
