BENIN CITY – Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole says the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP can never change adding that for too long, across Nigeria, PDP has buffeted the people with lies, empty promises and  deceit  both at the political level and on the economic front.
Governor Oshiomhole disclosed this yesterday in Benin when he joined other APC Chieftains in the state to receive hundreds of PDP members from Oredo and Egor Local Government Areas who have abandoned their party for the All Progressives Congress.
He said, “I welcome you to the Progressive family, APC and I assure you of my personal recognition, respect and my commitment to work with you as closely as it is practically possible.
“My joy today is that as the saying goes ’you can fool some of the people some of the time, you cannot fool all the people all the time’. I think for too long across Nigeria, PDP has buffeted us with untruth, lies, deceit, empty promises, both at the political level and economic front and every day they have ran short of lies and they have ran short of excuses like you have rightly said before you left your area, there was suppose to be rules but at the end of the day, those rules were not obeyed.
“If they will tell you in the morning you will know what to do but they will tell you only when you have already emptied your pocket. It is not possible for a he-goat to live long to become a sheep, it can’t become a ram, a he-goat will always be a he-goat. PDP can never change and I think you all can also agree that they themselves are aware that they need to change but the more they try to change, the more they remain the same. You know before my election in 2012, I remember they were shouting, ‘this  is new PDP and I was saying what is new? The head is the same old PDP and it has become even older now, almost approaching a hundred. So the head has not change and so the body couldn’t have changed but they know they have nothing to change.
“I am happy that you observed our party primaries. My own nephew lost where I voted. It is not possible for a nephew of a PDP Governor to loose a primary, it can’t happen; they can change it as at when they want.
“What is happening in Edo is not unique, in Cross River, that is how they have changed the game, in Delta, that is why they have manipulated the result. In Sokoto, Lagos, Ogun and across the country and that is how they have changed the game. A he-goat will remain A he-goat”, he stressed.
He said, “Secondly, I am happy that PDP Oredo and Egor have come to join us today.  You will be better ambassadors to tell the story. Edo was a catalogue of problems in all aspects before our advent. We haven’t fixed all the problems but we are working and we are continuing the work. With you joining us, we are having renewed energy and renewed determination that it can only get better”.
He assured the decampees of equal treatment in all ramifications of the party stressing, “You will not suffer any discrimination whatsoever”.
Earlier, the leader of the decampees from Oredo Local Government Area and two-time aspirant to the Edo State House of Assembly, (Oredo) on the platform of the PDP, Mr. Festus Osaretin Oviawe said, “We are leaving PDP because of the perceived injustice done to us and we have decided to join APC in the state”.
He said, “Let me thank the governor on behalf of my supporters for creating the enabling political space in the state for participatory democracy to strive.
“APC is not a party like our own where if you don’t have someone behind you, you don’t have a businessman as a leader of the party to stand behind you to influence the election, even when you have your own personal money to do so, without having anybody behind you as your leader, you are not going to be nominated in any election at all”.
“Unlike APC, we have seen you through the media where you went to Iyamoh and queued up to vote for the person of your choice whereas in PDP it was not so”.
Mr. Oviawe, however, saluted the courage of the Comrade Governor in piloting the affairs of the state and the political maturity exhibited inspite of perceived provocation by opposition PDP Leaders in the state and promised to work with the Governor and APC to deliver Edo State in the next election come February 14, 2015.
Also, in Ogwa, Esan West Local Government Area, Governor Adams Oshiomhole  received leaders of PDP Ward 1, Mr. Martins Alebesunu and Ward 2, Osaretin Pius with hundreds of their supporters from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defecting to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole and APC Chieftains received the defectors into the fold of APC with an assurance to give equal treatment to all members without preferential treatment.