Oshiomhole says PDP is "dead on arrival"

dimeji akinloye

July 15, 2016 4:37 AM

But the PDP was quick to discredit the Governor's statement, describing it as desperate and “a feeble attempt” to boost the morale of “his deflated APC.”

Edo State former governor, Adams Oshiomhole

Edo State Governor,

He said the absence of the PDP governors at the commencement of the party's governorship campaign indicates they have already rejected the candidate of one of its factions.

Speaking in Benin on Wednesday, July 14, during a stakeholders’ meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Oshiomhole said “the campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party for the forthcoming governorship election in the state is dead on arrival. Whether you like it or not, the 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.

“While the PDP could not get any rational person of note to present a tattered flag, our own national chairman will be around, as a former governor, a former federal permanent secretary and a national chairman of the governing party and all the APC governors will be here to present the flag to our candidate.”

The opposition party said Oshiomhole is apparently fearful of the PDP candidate in the forthcoming election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, who is the aspirant endorsed by the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction.

“Edo people are desirous to change the ‘change’ that brought misery, suffering, hike in fuel and food prices, obnoxious taxes and levies and worst of all, deceit,” the State Publicity Secretary, Chris Nehikhare, said on Thursday, July 14.

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However, the embattled Chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff, has insisted that the name of the candidate (Mathew Iduoreyekemwen) he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the legitimate flagbearer of the party in the Edo governorship election.

dimeji akinloye