…As U.S. sanctions 4 Russia-linked individuals for alleged election meddling***
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday, said that the people of Edo are satisfied with the performance of Gov. Godwin Obaseki and ready to re-elect him.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, stated this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
Ologbondiyan said that Obaseki will defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC), candidate Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, in a manner that the party would be afraid to even approach the tribunal.
He said that the candidate of the PDP had been easily moving from ward to ward because he was widely accepted to the people of Edo.
“Obaseki is moving around the state showcasing his achievements. He has built a modular refinery, he has shown it.
“He has renovated schools, he has shown it, he is building roads, he has shown it, he is creating employments, he has shown it,” he said.
Ologbondiyan spoke on concerns on insecurity during the election and allegation of people who dress in fake police and military uniforms on election day.
He, therefore, urged security agencies to honour their assurance of ensuing peaceful election in Edo.
“We have received assurances from the various security chiefs who would be involved in the election.
“We have also received assurances from INEC that it will play by the rules.
“So, all we can ask and our stand is that they should walk their talk.
Also read: Edo 2020: Butchers endorse Obaseki for 2nd term
“It is not enough you make promises then you go back and look idly and allow vandals, bandits, thugs to come and cause mayhem in Edo state,” he added.
In another development, the United States has imposed sanctions on four Russian-linked individuals for alleged attempts to interfere in its electoral process.
U.S. Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, said in a statement on Thursday that the action was taken by the Department of Treasury.
Among the blacklisted is a member of the Ukrainian parliament, Andrii Derkach, who “maintains close ties with Russian intelligence’’.
Pompeo alleged that Derkach tried to influence the views of American voters through a Russian-directed covert influence campaign.
According to him, the campaign was aimed at “manipulating the American political process to advance Russia’s malign interests in Ukraine’’.
“This operation was designed to culminate prior to Election Day,’’ he alleged.
The secretary of state identified the other three as Artem Lifshits, Anton Andreyev and Darya Aslanova, all Russian citizens.
Pompeo said they had links to the “troll farm Internet Research Agency (also known as Lakhta Internet Research), owned and operated by Kremlin-linked oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin’’.
“They supported the Internet Research Agency’s cryptocurrency accounts, facilitating the Internet Research Agency’s malign influence campaigns targeting the American people.
“This action sends a clear signal: the U.S. will not hesitate to use all tools of national power to respond to foreign actors that seek to interfere in or otherwise influence our elections by any means,’’ he added.
The treasury department’s move freezes any U.S. assets of those blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them, according to Reuters.
It would be recalled that Russia and China came under accusations from the U.S. intelligence community in recent times over alleged election meddling.
While Russia was alleged to be meddling in favour of President Donald Trump, China was accused of working in support of Democratic Presidential Candidate, Joe Biden.
Both countries have denied the accusations.
On Sept. 4, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in an internal memo, warned of alleged plans by Russia to erode the confidence of Americans in mail-in voting.
The DHS said Kremlin was trying to amplify criticism of vote by mail, which many U.S. states were embracing to check the spread of COVID-19.