THE ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the major opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have boasted of victory during the June 18 and July 16, 2022 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, respectively.
In Ekiti State, the Publicity Secretary of the APC, Segun Dipe, in a chat with Saturday Tribune, said with the ruling party under the leadership of Governor Kayode Fayemi having performed creditably, the election would be an easy ride for it.
Dipe added that only the APC had recognised structures across the 177 political wards in the state, which he said would help the party in achieving victory at the poll.
He said: “Definitely, we are the party to beat and, of course, we are the only party with structures across the state. In fact, we are the living party because others are either dead or dying. We will only advise the other parties to move into the APC. The more the merrier.
“The party is as good as winning the June 18, 2022 election. It is just the manifestation that we are waiting for.”
However, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Rafael Adeyanju, said the election would be a walkover for the opposition for what he described as the poor performance of the present administration in the state.
Adeyanju told Saturday Tribune that the people of Ekiti State had been subjected to hardship in all sectors, saying the electorates were waiting for Election Day to punish the ruling party.
According to him, the people of Ekiti are enlightened and cannot be moved by propaganda from the APC in the build-up to the governorship poll.
Adeyanju said: “The truth of the matter is that the election is almost a walk-over for the PDP because the people are really tired of the administration of the APC in Ekiti and, by extension, in Nigeria.
“It would have been difficult for us if the government in Ekiti had performed in the last three and a half years but to further compound the woes of the APC, our people are more informed and you can’t deceive them with propaganda and lies. Check the elections since 1999 in the state and you will see how people changed parties every four years.
“People have seen things for themselves in the society and I can tell you that the PDP will be victorious on June 18.”
In Osun State, factional chairman of the PDP, Mr Wale Ojo, said there was no cause for alarm regarding the coming election as his party was popular and acceptable to the masses. Ojo stated that the party was working round the clock to ensure victory at the poll.
He said: “Our hope and strength are in God and the good people of the state and I want to assure you that our internal differences are being given attention and will be resolved amicably before February.
“Our leaders, elders, Board of Trustees members, state working committee members and other stakeholders are putting heads together to ensure that all party members work harmoniously together.
“Honestly, our expectation is victory because the APC has failed the people of the state in many ways and the PDP is the only party that they would want to turn to for a better deal.”
Also, the other factional chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr Sunday Bisi, expressed confidence that the party would beat every other political party in the state to victory at the governorship election in July.
Bisi, in an interview with Saturday Tribune in Osogbo, said the APC government had let the people of the state down in many ways, adding that the PDP was the only party that could wipe off the tears on the people’s faces.
Speaking on the internal bickering within the party, he said disagreements were inevitable in any circle and expressed confidence that all grievances would be resolved ahead of the big political battle in a few months’ time.
According to him, machineries have been put in motion for a mass mobilisation of the people of the state for the party as soon the New Year celebration ends.
On his own part, the spokesperson of the APC in the state, Mr Kunke Oyatomi, said: “In Osun State today, there is no household that is not being touched one way or the other through the policies and programmes of the Gboyega Oyetola-led APC government.
“The APC has been winning in the last 11 years and the party is still maintaining its responsibility in making the good people of the state happy and grateful.
“The PDP, for instance, lives a lie, pretence and deceit. To defeat Oyetola in the coming guber election is more impossible than difficult.
“You cannot replace goodness with evil in broad daylight against the wish of the people who are beneficiaries of that goodness.
“The people have spoken and are still speaking loud and clear in all the hail of endorsements so far. A broad spectrum of infrastructural and developmental institutions has come on stream within the last 36 months of Oyetola’s administration. This has set the stage for the kind of economics and social development that the state has never experienced.
“The labour unions, teachers, civil servants, farmers, men and women of integrity, amongst others, are all behind the APC in State of Osun like Rock of Gibraltar.”
Osun APC seeks Adeboye’s intervention in intra-party crisis
Meanwhile, state lawmakers elected on the platform of the APC in Osun State have visited the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye.
The main purpose of the visit was to convince the cleric to intervene and help restore peace between the govenor, Adegboyega Oyetola and his predecessor, Rauf Aregbesola.
Associates of Aregbesola, the current Minister of Interior, operating under the aegis of The Osun Progressives (TOP) are currently locked in a supremacy battle with Oyetola for the soul of the party in the state.
Sometime in the year 2020, the National Leader of the party, Senator Bola Tinubu and a former governor of Osun State, Bisi Akande, twice initiated peace moves between Oyetola and Aregbesola without success.
The APC caucus in the state House of Assembly concerned about the deteriorating relationship between the two leaders and its spiral effect on the party in the state decided to take the matter to the respected man of God who happens to be an elder and indigene of Osun State.
According to a source who was privy to the arrangement, the visitation to Pastor Adeboye was led by the Speaker, Timothy Owoeye and eight other members who met with the cleric sometime last week at the Redemption Camp.
The source said: “The visit was led by the Speaker and they sought Baba’s help to broker peace so as to guarantee and sustain the development of Osun. Baba appreciated the visit and the Speaker’s team’s initiative to resolve the issues.
“He stressed, however, that though he was not a politician; he would be guided by the scripture that says ‘blessed are peacemakers for they shall be called children of God’. The General Overseer prayed for his visitors before they departed for Osogbo.”
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