The APC campaign council for the Edo governorship election has urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to require compulsory drug tests for all party candidates in the upcoming poll.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Benin, Kassim Afegbua, the council’s media director, emphasized the need for candidates to undergo thorough drug testing to ensure their mental and emotional fitness.
Afegbua called on the NDLEA to focus on candidates from all leading political parties to verify their state of sanity.
“We have been reliably informed that some of them are alleged to be heavy consumers of banned substances, including alcohol.
“A test for all of them will unveil their level of sanity,” he said.
He continued: “Edo State is too decent to have a governor who will bring shame to the people.
“Anyone who wants to govern Edo State should not be a heavy consumer of marijuana.
“This is a banned substance, and we expect the NDLEA to verify and conduct tests on the major candidates.
“Our candidate, Sen. Monday Okpebholo is prepared to submit himself to any test any time he’s called upon.
“We expect similar assurances from the other candidates to ascertain their level of sanity
“It will be a big shame for residents of other states to drag our people in the mud for mistakenly voting for a candidate whose state of mind can not be guaranteed.
“That is a big risk Edo people can not gamble with. We are doing this to save our state, and we hope that the NDLEA will quickly swing into action and do the needful,” he said.
“We must unearth any padded candidate who pretends to be a saint during the day but a notorious gangster at night.
“With the insecurity, unemployment, decayed infrastructure, poor healthcare, lack of potable water, and failed education in Edo State, the people deserve a governor with a sane mind to lead us into prosperity,” he said.