The Edo state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday challenged Governor Godwin Obaseki to a popularity contest with the leader of the party in the state and former governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, with a promise that Obaseki would come back with a bloodied head.
Throwing the challenge at the inauguration of the APC Governorship Camping Council in Oredo Local Government Area of the State, the APC deputy governorship candidate for September 21, 2024, gubernatorial election, Mr Dennis Idahosa, said that if Governor Obaseki was sure that he had done creditably well in his two terms as the governor of the state, he should carry the candidate of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo, around the streets of Benin City and other parts of the state, while Oshiomhole should also take the APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, around the state.
Idahosa boasted that if Obaseki did not put on a helmet, “he would come back home bleeding, with blood on his head.”
Idahosa assured that a new APC government would continue from where Comrade Oshiomhole stopped in terms of flood control, rebuilding of public schools, checking insecurity, cultism, and respect for traditional institutions.
“Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has been out of government for eight years now. The current governor is Obaseki, and he has been there for almost eight years.
“We want Obaseki to take the hand of his candidate, Asue Ighodalo, and walk around the streets of Benin City and other places in the state, and Oshiomhole will take the hand of Okpebholo and do the same thing and see what will happen.
“If Obaseki does not wear a helmet, he will come back bleeding, with blood on his head, because he is completely disconnected from the people.” Idahosa boasted.
On his part, Okpebholo said if elected, his administration would “not listen to gossip; we will be there to work for Edo people so that there will be progress in the state.
“We are ready to send them packing because they have failed us. I was in the local government of the PDP candidate, and by the time I counted thirty things I have done in his place, they could not point to one thing that he has done for them.”
The Director General of the APC Campaign Council, Senator Matthew Uroghide, said in his remarks that APC had done enough for the people to win the election, including the party’s candidates, who he said “are sitting members of the National Assembly that have been working for their people.
Besides, he said Oredo remained the heartbeat of politics in Edo South Senatorial District and that most of the political bigwigs in Oredo, including himself, who had been in different political parties, “are now all in one party, so the victory of the party is sure.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Director General of the Campaign Council in Oredo, Hon. Osaro Obazee, called for the unity of the members for victory.
“Today, I am overwhelmed with the quality and quantity of people here. Not too long ago, we were all involved in our primary election, and I recall that in our last meeting, some people still had deep anger.
“You have a choice when you are contesting a primary election, but once a candidate has emerged, you can no longer have a personal interest except if you want to do anti-party activities that have consequences, so we must work together.
“We are not going to adopt the usual style of campaigning; we have a new strategy, and we will discuss that in our closed-door meeting,” he noted.
This was just as he called on its members, still angry with the outcome of the primary election that brought its current candidate, Okpebholo, to be true party members and work for the victory of the party, which he noted would only be achieved as a united family.
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