Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Friday expressed disappointment over Thursday’s postponement of the governorship election in the state.
The election was initially scheduled for Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Oshiomhole told the European Union and other foreign observer groups in the state for the election, during a visit to him in Benin on Friday, that the rescheduling of the poll was done in bad faith by INEC.
The foreign observer groups were led on the visit by Ben lllewellyn-Jones, Political Counsellor of the British High Commission, Abuja.
The governor said the postponement of the election to September 28 was ridiculous, adding that the action only portrayed that INEC was not prepared for the exercise.
He decried what he said was “unilateral decision” by INEC to postpone the election without consulting political parties.
He said that INEC should, in the future, be advised to consult widely with stakeholders before making such crucial decision.
According to Oshiomhole, democracy is not only a means to an end, but an end itself.
He stated that the last eight years in Edo State had been a celebration of democracy, courtesy of the All Progressives Congress-led administration in the state.
He, however, said the APC was not unmindful of the need for a free, fair and credible election and affirmed that the party was determined to sustain the tradition.
Earlier, Ilewellyn-Jones had said they were in the Government House to discuss the importance of the election.
He said they had met and discussed with other stakeholders on the need to ensure a free, fair and credible and transparent governorship election in the state.
Ilewellyn-Jones advised political parties and security agencies to imbibe the culture of continuous consultation to ensure that the new date for the election was realizable.
The election monitors delegation included those from the United Kingdom, Netherlands embassy, EU and the US embassy.