Wike who was flanked by his colleagues from Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and his counterpart, the Oyo state governor, Mr. Seyi Makinde, in the studio on the Edo 2020 Election situation room, called on the Nigerian police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), and the army to beef up security around the ward and local government collation centres.
According to Wike, the people have decided and there was nothing anybody could do about the decision of Edo people who have decided who their governor should be in the next four years.
He expressed concern over the absence of security operatives at the Ward Collation Centres, maintaining that what they got from the situation room on the victory of the PDP candidate should be reflected on ground.
Hear him: “The Edo election has been quite peaceful and I want to commend everybody for the peace we have enjoyed. Like I have always said, problems do not arise at election but during collation. So we call on INEC to fulfill the promise it made to Nigerians that it will release the Edo election results at real time.
“We are very happy with the election so far. But you cannot find security presence at the ward collation centres. After results have been announced at polling units, we expect that police presence will be more at the ward collation centres. That is where we feel concerned now. We appeal to the federal government to mobilise security personnel to the various ward collation centres and the local government collation centres, so that the people’s mandate can be protected.
“I urge the people; the media, civil society organisations and voters to be vigilant at this time and watch over developments at the collation centres”.
Also speaking, the Delta state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, insisted that the security operatives should up their games in ensuring that the votes of the people are protected and counted.
On his part, the Oyo State counterpart, Mr. Seyi Makinde, said the Peoples’ Democratic Party was not asking much rather, the right thing should be done.
He called on the security agencies not to be tired of their sacrifice to humanity aimed at safeguarding the democracy of the country.
Meanwhile, expectations are high as the votes are moving from one collation point to the other as voters are waiting eagerly to see that the rightful winner of the election as decided by the people was announced.