APC Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun

The National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said that the party cannot afford to lose the Edo gubernatorial election holding on Sept. 10.

Odigie-Oyegun made the statement in Abuja on Tuesday after presenting the certificate of return to Mr Godwin Obaseki, the party’s flag-bearer in the poll.

Odigie-Oyegun said “there is nothing to capture in Edo, we are just going to go ahead and win.

”We cannot afford to lose Edo State, that thought must never arise because it is significant … it is no longer local politics.

”By God’s grace we will win the election,” he said.

Commending the Gov. Aminu Masari-led election committee, Obaseki said: ”the team was truly professional.‎”

The chairman pledged to unite the party, saying ”of the 11 opponents at the primary, only one has not agreed to work with us.’’

Speaking to newsmen afterwards, Obaseki cleared the ‎air over ongoing rumour about controversies surrounding his proposed deputy, Hon. Philip Shuaibu.

There are reports that since Gov. ‎Adams Oshiomhole is from Edo North, Obaseki from Edo South, his deputy should be from Edo Central but Shuiabu, the proposed deputy, is also from Edo North.

”We had far-reaching consultations with party members, had meetings with leadership of the party and looked at his credentials before we arrived at this decision.

”Nobody is going to be marginalised over this issue.”

On whether he views the opposition as a threat in the upcoming election, Obaseki, who heads Oshiomhole’s economic team, said: ”we don’t believe we have opposition in Edo State.

”We beat ‎them in every election as opposition in Edo. They don’t have much to campaign on, we contested against them in the past and we won so they don’t stand a chance.”

Obaseki also debunked the story that the incumbent administration had run the Edo economy and civil service aground.

”They are used to running fiction and lies, for them to insinuate that about the civil service I think is fraudulent.

”Even if we forgive them for the money they stole‎ we will never forget what they did to our bureaucracy. Building Edo back is our priority.

”In 10 years they barely recruited, they removed top civil servants while the junior ones had nobody to learn from and ‎did not employ.

”We have built back moral, paid pension ‎to those they retired without paying and so on. Once we finish, Edo will be the model city we dreamed of.” (NAN)