Owere Dickson Imasogie is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) strong man in Edo State. In this interview with Sir Ralph Okhiria, he disclosed that the leaders and members of the party are fully confident of victory in the September 19, Governorship election in the state. He also stated that the much talked about ‘federal might’ is not a threat to the PDP.
Happy reading:
Sir, the guber elecon is a few weeks away and from the look of things, the elecon will be between APC and PDP. So far so good, where do you think the pendulum will swing to?
I am happy you are in this state and I am even wondering why you are asking that queson because even a lay man can know that PDP must win. So there is no doubt over that at all.
If I may ask, why are you so optimistic that PDP will win? What are those things that will make PDP win?
First, you have interviewed me countless times and I have always maintained that Edo is a PDP State. And if you observe the Presidential election in this state, whether in 2015 or 2019 when we had an incumbent President, PDP defeated him in this state. So this is a PDP State and now that Obaseki has left with almost two-third of APC members to join the PDP which I have always acknowledged to be in charge of this state. This analysis alone is sufficient for you to know it is a done deal for PDP.
There is one issue that has continued to reverberate in the minds of most PDP members; the fear of Federal might. So, do you believe in Federal might and do you think that Federal might can do any miracles for the APC?
If there is Federal might, President Buhari would have been able to use it to win this state in 2019. Yes, I can really confirm that in Osun, Ekiti, Kano and Kogi elecons, they used Federal might to win. But in Edo State, all hands must be on deck to prevent Federal might, just like what happened in Oyo state. Who would have thought that Makinde of the
PDP will win Oyo state. Edo State is almost like a one-party State. Yes, we are aware that the soldiers are coming but are not coming to kill PDP members? I understand they are trying to intimidate the voters and that is what they started in the Oba Palace sometime ago by thinking it is only them that have monopoly to violence. And believe me, it is only in the Urban area that you can have such happenings. In the rural areas, we all know ourselves, my cousin cannot behave like a thug in my unit except you hire people from other places to come and when they come they won’t go home. But it could happen here (Benin City). So it is not possible for you to drive away every person or able to identify everybody claiming to be voters. I will also not tell you our antidote to that so as not to teach them how we are prepared for them.
Sincerely speaking, do you think this election will be conducted peacefully?
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