Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
The battle for Edo governorship election is gaining momentum with the two leading parties, the All Progressives Congress, APC and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP perfecting strategies on how to ensure that their candidates secure victory at the September 19 poll.
The National Campaign Council of both parties have been meeting for perfect their strategies for the election while also expressing optimism that their respective parties will emerge victorious when the ballot is counted at the end of at the end of the election.
Speaking at the end of its all night inaugural meeting presided over by the chairman of its 77-members National Campaign Council, Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, PDP chieftains said the people of Edo will retain Governor Obaseki who defected to their party from APC ahead of the election in office.
The meeting was attended by the governors of Adamawa state, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Mankinde, other members of the national campaign council, chairmen and secretaries of all the sub-committees of Edo 2020.
Governor Fintiri who spoke to journalists at the end of the said the campaign council will adopt the best strategies to retain what rightly belongs to PDP.
The Governor, who is also the deputy Chairman of the campaign council said the members would leave no stone unturned in working with Edo people to deepen democracy.
“The election is already on the table for PDP. We have a sell-able candidate, who is Governor Godwin obaseki. Nigerians are moving forward with democracy and we have to deepen it together.
“Technically, Edo is a PDP state because in the last election of 2019, we actually won all the elections. So, it is not coming as a surprise that Governor Obaseki has to shift his ground from APC to join us.
“Now, we are putting all the forces together, and there is nothing that’s left behind. So Edo is completely a PDP state and we are going in there to win the election,” he said.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Publicity Committee, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi said the Edo people are convinced that Governor Obaseki is the best candidate in the governorship race.
He explained that the national campaign council has given the state campaign council all the needed support that would ensure total victory for PDP.
“Those of us from Edo state are very clear in our minds that our candidate, Governor Obaseki is definitely the best candidate that can deliver and sustain the PDP ticket and also take the flag of the party to Osadebe House.
“For the South-South, it is a great challenge and honour to ensure that the six states in the zone belong to PDP. So, every support has been pledged by the leadership of the party; the governors, members of BOT, the national working committee. They are committed to ensuring that the flag of PDP will continue to fly in Government House,” he said.
However, the APC National Campaign Council has also expressed optimism that the party’s candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu will win the September 19 election.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, expressed the optimism that APC will reclaim its mandate in the governorship election.
Sylva said this on Tuesday shortly after the inauguration of the Contact and Mobilisation Committee of the APC National Campaign Council for Edo Governorship Election at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
The minister, who chaired the committee, said the party’s South/South stakeholders had agreed to reclaim the state in the upcoming poll.
He said that the Edo was taken from the party through the back door and it would be recovered.
“All of us in the South-South believe that this election must be won.
“It is our stronghold in the region, and therefore we are all geared up, we will all go to Edo State.
“We want to assure you that you should not entertain any doubt that Edo will be an APC state very soon, come the election in September.
“Election is not all about finance. First, if you say the power of incumbency, it is an APC incumbency that has been stolen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“So, that kind of incumbency has coma, and that is why we believe that such incumbency will not work.
“The Edo people know that the state is for APC and I want to assure you that we are in touch with our people in Edo.
” We know that we are the dominant party in Edo and we are going to win this election,” Sylva said.