… Says Obaseki’ll pay for his treachery
By Ezeocha Nzeh
Chairman of the All Progressives Congress governorship campaign committee in Edo State, Abdullahi Ganduje has stated that his campaign Council will not keep anything to chance as it is poised to deliver the party’s candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu during the September 19, governorship elections in Edo state
Ganduje, who is also the Governor of Kano State said the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governirship candidate and governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki would pay for his treachery and defection from the ruling party to the opposition PDP .
The governor said during the inauguration of his campaign Council at the APC secretariat in Abuja that his counterpart from the PDP, the governor of Rivers State and chairman of the PDP campaign Committee for the Edo State governirship election, Nyesom Wike would be kept in isolation till the end of the election
Ganduje, who assured of his party’s victory, said the Edo State governirship election would be a walk over for APC with his committee members who he described as elections veterans.
The Edo State governorship election campaign committee also has governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Gombe State, Mohammed Inuwa, Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and Senator Kabiru Gaya.
Ganduje stated that there would be no soft spot for Governor Obaseki who was until few weeks ago a member of the APC and Vice Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF).
Asked if APC governors would have soft spot for Obaseki, who just left the APC, he said, “there is no soft spot for anything like that. The issue is that first of all, we know PDP made Wike their chairman, I assure you, we will isolate Wike. We will put him in an isolation centre and before he recovers, the election would over.
“The PDP decided to accommodate our former Governor in Edo State not because they have anything in common, not because they share some feelings, but simply because he is managing the treasury of Edo State and they want him to use that treasury in order to win the election. But I assure you the people of Edo State are watching, they know that somebody who was assisted in 2016 to win an election, somebody who was given every cooperation to succeed in Governance of Edo State without doing much for the people, at the end of it, he’s taken the treasury and now handed it over to PDP in order to win the election.
“The people of Edo State will not accept this treachery. The people of Edo State on 19th September will come out enmasse and vote for APC.”
On the viability of the Committee, he said, “first of all, seeing is believing. By looking at the composition of this Committee, you know that APC is ready for the election, you know that APC will do everything possible to win this important election.
“The reason why I am saying that, you know in the composition of this Committee we have all war veteran in politics and we have young people who are just coming out from election and are ready to go back into the processes of election again. And we have all the horses who never missed their targets
“So, we assure you, the composition of this campaign council is strong and we are ready to do the job.
“The main purpose of this committee is to provide enabling environment for all our party men and even non party men, members of the public to appreciate our party based on their conscience and based on their ideological believe that APC is the answer in Edo State.
“So we assure you we shall create enabling environment for a peaceful election.
“We know the opposition is planning to rig the election, we know there are tactics, we know there methodology and we shall dismantle all their tactics to ensure that we win this election”
Continuing, Ganduje said, “I am being motivated, encouraged when I saw the composition of the council comprising of the who is who in the APC deputy Senate President, the former SGF, many former governors and my colleague governors. You can see that the campaign council is composed of both the young and the old.
“The young, who are veterans from political war collage, who are used to door-to-door fight, who were, in fact born in the field base on war and the smoke of guns do not deter such people, who silently shoot and never miss their targets.
“Mr Chairman, I believe you know we have already succeeded and I am happy with the just inaugurated reconciliation committee as well. We too will work together to ensure that there is complete synergy within the party. We are working with one voice so that we can eliminate the problems of anti-party activities, sabotage and espionage. So, if there is full reconciliation, then we know we are working in unison and this is equally important.
“Mr Chairman, the campaign council will work with the leadership of the party in Edo state so that we can understand the political trend of the field, and to know the areas of strength and weaknesses; areas that we have to take advantage and even areas of threats. We assure you that we will work to make everything possible to ensure that we succeed. Our main objective is to create an enabling environment for all of us to work together as partymen and even members of the public to ensure that we win this important election. We assure you that we will work within the protocol of COVID 19 in Edo state; we assure you that we will work according to the rules of the nation and electoral laws and processes because many members of the committee were elected, others have managed elections at one time or the other, so it is not a new thing. We assure you of great success in Edo state.”
Earlier, the governor of Yobe State and APC Caretaker/Extraordinary National Convention Planning Committee chairman, Mai Mala Buni said, “The assignment before the reconciliation and campaign committees is to include a peaceful and united APC and ensure successful renewal of mandate by the good people of Edo state who voted the party in 2016.
“The mainstream of the list carefully appointed into the reconciliation and campaign council gives the party great hope and confidence that they will succeed for the party to be more united and victorious.
“I use this opportunity to urge you to take advantage of strong team work, reach out to strong stakeholders and pursue your assignment with all sense of purpose and commitment for the party success. I also appeal to every stakeholder and member of the party across the country to support the peace initiative of the party for the stronger, united and prosperous APC. I’m to say that the caretaker committee which I’m opportune to lead appreciate wide range of consultations and this remains a major to pave way for true and sincere reconciliation. I also draw a roadmap, plan and action to form partnership among the stakeholders. We are committed to rebuilding confidence and trust through the party across the country. To actualise these measures, we must engage in an all inclusive consultation that accommodate and fix various challenges facing the party.”
