Edo North PDP senatorial candidate challenges Sen Alimikhena to debate

BUOYED by his recent emergence as the Edo North Senatorial consensus candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a former member of House of Representatives, Alhaji Abubakar Momoh has challenged his main rival, incumbent Senator Francis Alimikhena of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to a debate.

Momoh who spoke yesterday in a telephone interview from Auchi, Edo state lashed out at Alimikhena whom he accused of poor performance and discriminating against the Owan and Akoko-Edo people who together with Etsako make up the district.

Sounding upbeat, he said: “The debate will provide a platform for Senator Alimikhena to present his scorecard to the constituents while I will also provide my score-card as a former member of House of Representatives (Etsako Federal constituency) and my blueprints for the Senatorial district if elected.”

The two-term member of the House of Representatives charged that Alimikhena won the 2015 election because of the national chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s “political oxygen” which he however insisted has since been “exhausted, dried and no longer relevant in Edo North politics.”

The PDP senatorial hopeful showered encomiums on the Edo State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, former Chief of Staff to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe and other party heavyweights from the area for their significant roles in strengthening of PDP in the area during its darkest hours.

ALSO READ: In Kaduna, it’s el-Rufai versus Ashiru

He enthused: “We are now in a place of strength and there is no better time to show our formidability and strength than in the 2019 general elections.”

He remarked that during his times as a member of the National Assembly, apart from sponsoring seven bills and moving ten motions which directly affected the lives of his constituents, he also facilitated and executed the extension of electricity to various communities, purchase and installation of not less than 20 transformers across Etsako

According to him, he also facilitated the construction of pedestrian bridge at the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi main gate to reduce the carnage of students along the busy Abuja-Auchi highway, job opportunities for constituents among others.

He promised; “As we prepare for the 2019 polls, I call on my supporters to judiciously use the power of the PVCs by trooping out en-masse to vote for the PDP. Surely, I will not disappoint you all. In times, past, you have tested my capacities and capabilities and I believe I did not fail you. This time will not be an exception. I will redouble my efforts to ensure adequate and effective representation of your varied interests in Abuja.”