By Raphael Okhiria
Few days to the Gubernatorial election in Edo State, slated for September 21, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has held a city-shaken political rally to shore up the support base of its governorship candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.
The Chairman, National Campaign Council, Edo 2024 Governorship Election and Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, who led other leaders of party to the campaign ground at the Garrick Memorial College, speaking at rally, warned against compromisation of the electoral process scheduled for next Saturday.
According to Fintiri, “we cannot be intimidated. We will tell them we know how to win election. No body will rig us out.”
The Adamawa governor urged the people to come out en masse on Saturday and vote for the PDP candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, adding “we know how to win election.”
He said Edo state was known as the cradle of civilization and intellectuals in Nigeria, noting that they must not settle for anything less.
Fintiri who likened Ighodalo to Obaseki, noted that governor Godwin Obaseki has done his best for the State and left a landmark in terms of human capital development.
He said: “you cannot at this point of our history, where insecurity have engulfed everywhere, bring someone who has said he is going to bring insecurity to Edo State.”
Also speaking, former vice president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, reminded the Edo people of how they fought gallantly in 2020 to re-elect Godwin Obaseki and urged them to do it again.
“In 2020, they said said they will not allow us to win but we showed them “Edo no be Lagos”. This time again we are going to show them “Edo no be Lagos.
“You cant come and steal vote here in Edo, therefore protect your vote, defend your votes, make sure your votes are entered, escort your votes and make sure they are announced and if you do that, no body can change your votes and you are winning, come september 21.
In his remarks, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, stated that “the person I took over from didn’t have respect for our people and women. Women were going for trafficking and prostitution, but today is it still there? No. When i came into office, they said teachers could not read and they abandoned them and today, Edo is number one in Education.
“When I came, they said civil servants are not good and corrupt and were not paid salary on time but today we have the best civil service in Nigeria.
“When I took over, pensioners were wearing black on labour day but today they are wearing white.
“Now we have Edo Jobs, Edo Innovate, Edo Creative Hub; so after eight years with all these achievements do you want to go back?
“Is Edo not the safest state in Southern Nigeria? Is our vigilante not the best trained in Nigeria but now they want to remove them.
“This is an existential threat. Do you want insecurity? Do you want people that didn’t go to school to come and lead us? Next week Saturday is the election, you will vote for PDP and our next governor will be Asue Ighodalo.
On his part, the candidate of the PDP, Asue Ighodalo, shortly after receiving the party’s flag from the acting national chairman, promise to build on the foundation of development Obaseki had laid.
Present at the rally were all the PDP governors, Speakers of Edo and Delta states, PDP senators and House of Representatives members, religious leaders, PDP women and youth leaders, among others.
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