Benin City — The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has described the party candidate in the September 21 gubernatorial polls, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, as someone who does not require surreptitious means to win election, adding that Edo people are intelligent and observant enough to distinguish between a thoroughbred and a wannabe candidate.
The Deputy Director for the Asue/Ogie Campaign Management Council of the PDP, Rev Olu Martins, who made the declaration in a statement on Wednesday, noting it is against the foregoing that the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is already developing cold feet for the coming elections billed for next month.
"I read a rather boring write up which reeks of a worn-out methodology by the nomadic, serial defector, contractor spokesperson of the APC where he claimed that plans were underway by the state government to rig election for our candidate, the very ebullient and cerebral Dr. Asue Ighodalo
"Knowing APC for its well-developed penchant for lies and falsehood it would not have been necessary to respond to Kassim Afegbua's anachronistic style of campaign of calumny but for those who may not know Kassim Afegbua, it is necessary to put the record straight."
The statement further noted that Ighodalo does not need any introduction to the Nigerian people, especially Nigerians who appreciate hard work and ingenuity (attributes that are strange to the APC), being an international award-winning serial entrepreneur and investment banker who has held sway as chairman of several multinationals and organisations.
Besides, Dr. Ighodalo who was chairman of Sterling Bank, Dangote Flour, and Nigerian Breweries just to mention a few is the candidate of the PDP who has transversed the length and breadth of Edo State while espousing the most brilliant and lofty ideas of governance and leadership whose ideas continue to resonate with the three Senatorial Districts of Edo South, Edo Central and Edo North.
The statement further read: "Dr. Asue Ighodalo has been the most intellectually engaging candidate in the race to Osadebey Avenue as his media and live engagements continue to stimulate the minds and consciences of the Edo voting population.
"The Edo people have not seen that kind of content and issue-based engagements ever as they continue to flock around him in large number any time he calls or goes for such engagement.
"Unlike the APC candidate who dodges any engagement that requires the critical use of this mental ability. He won't appear on television or participate in any debate. Even when he has to speak at rallies someone has to whisper bullet points ("chukuli") to him and even at that he still would be incoherent in his postulation.
"Clearly the embarrassment that the lackluster candidate of APC causes anytime he opens his mouth is already affecting their spokesperson Kassim Afegbua who can represent an imbecile to lead well rounded people as long as the pay is good.
"This is why Kassim is hallucinating in the wake of an obvious defeat which awaits his candidate and his party come September 21st 2024.
"Like the Rolls Royce car that doesn't need advertising, Dr. Asue Ighodalo is a global brand that does not require to be clandestinely brought into Osadebey Avenue through the backdoor.
"Dr. Asue Ighodalo and Barr. Osarodion Ogie stand tall in this race and the Edo people are eager to deal a blow to the barely educated candidate of the APC and his diminutive, vituperative elder spokesperson."
It would be recalled that in a statement on Tuesday, the APC Campaign Council Spokesman, Prince Afegbua, alleged that the party was in possession of plans by Governor Godwin Obaseki to rig the coming election.
According to him, "We, of the Edo State APC Campaign Council are hereby alerting the public, Edo electorate, and all others concerned, of the clandestine and surreptitious moves by the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, to rig the forthcoming Edo Gubernatorial election using his illegal Edo Security Network as a gambit."
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According to him, "We have been inundated with calls from well-meaning Edo electorate of his game plan to use threat, intimidation and harassment to disenfranchise Edo voters from exercising their right at the elections.
"We had decried before, the state government's activities of arms procurement. The state government has been recruiting even more hands into their illegal Edo Security Network, with the sole motive of empowering them for the underhand assignment of rigging the election by intimidation.
"We are aware that the state government has now started producing Police and military uniforms which members of the Edo Security Network will be made to wear on the said day of the election, to disguise as real police officers and military personnel; to assist them in carrying out their pernicious assignment."
