Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says the PDP has already rejected the candidate of one of its factions, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, with the cold shoulder he got from Governors and other leaders of the party at the flag-off of his campaign, two weeks ago.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Benin City, Wednesday, he said “the campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the forthcoming governorship election in the State is dead on arrival”.
He said the APC is the only party that offers hope to all our people, adding “whether you like it or not, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) engine is dead on arrival. The early morning signals are clear. For the first time since 1999, a candidate was being presented to the people of Edo State for the most important single job, and the key pillars were there fastened to their chairs and their tables, none of them could stand on their feet to say one word. Has the Oracle not spoken?
“Also, the “applicant pastor” said we have our fathers here and he called the fathers and you know when a child calls more than one father, you know what he is! But if you have three fathers seated next to each other, none of your fathers could stand up, take the microphone and said, yes you are my son; I present you. Did you observe that? Has papa not already disowned his child? Did papa testify for the child?”
According to him, “while the PDP couldn’t get any national person of note to present a tattered flag, our own national chairman will be around, as a former governor, former federal Permanent-Secretary and National Chairman of the governing party to present the flag to our candidate. And my brother governors will be coming from Friday, all the Progressives Governors will be here to show solidarity. We are not going to be represented by one governor. The Governors will come.”
Taking a swipe at former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi, over his comments at the PDP flag-off, Oshiomhole said “the APC will have a big outing, unlike what happened with the PDP, with the Papas seated, speechless and ‘pickin’ wobbling and an old man crying over a pot of soup on Live television”.
He commended the Deputy Governor of the State, Dr Pius Odubu, for the reconciliation achieved and agreeing to campaign for the APC candidate, Mr Godwin Obaseki.
He said: “let me again publicly appreciate my brother. In this hall, I have made some statements in the past. I cannot but again reiterate what I said to the Deputy Governor yesterday that I particularly value the fact that he had no difficulty in recognizing that for him, it is not an option.
“I think the Deputy Governor’s position reminds us that truly anyone who labours to build a house will find no comfort in undermining the foundation of that house, no matter the level of provocation. I submit and I decree that the fact that he readily accepted in the manner that he did shows that he knew that he has a stake in this house because his sweat together with your sweat was used to mould the blocks with which this house was built.
“The reason the Deputy Governor’s position is extremely important is that there is nobody that has any reason to be more aggrieved in status, in rank than him. He was the next after Godwin in terms of number of votes. He is number two citizen in the state. And so, if in spite of this he has done what he did, Pius, I want to tell you, your space in my heart has been deepened, reinforced.”
He called on members to work for the success of the party. “Having said that, I want to associate myself with what the chairman said. We must continue to work for reconciliation. I need every one of us to go back home and truly from the heart because we have one party, and God has helped us to do it transparently, successfully. It is time to move on.
“The same thing should happen in each of the 192 wards. When you do us that favour, you are demonstrating leadership ability at your own level. I want to appreciate all of you. My personal apologies to anyone I might have offended.
Different leaders of the party, including the Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu, Mr Gentleman Amegor and others agreed to work for the success of the party.
The meeting was attended by key stakeholders of the party across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state including the governorship candidate of the party, Mr. Godwin Obaseki with his running mate, Hon. Philip Shuaibu.
