Ahead of the Edo State governorship election, former governor Adams Oshiomhole has assured President Bola Tinubu that the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is “united and good to go.”
Oshiomhole disclosed this to newsmen yesterday after paying Sallah homage to Tinubu In Lagos.
Oshiomhole, who also represents Edo North in the Senate, expressed confidence in the chances of the APC winning the upcoming Edo State governorship election.
“We are due for elections. We are happy and we are perfecting all the arrangements to ensure that this coming election we will win because our house is united, we sorted out all the issues arising from primaries 100 percent,” Oshiomhole said.
The APC chieftain said the party has already put in place a “campaign council” and is eagerly awaiting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the election timetable, to kickstart the campaigns on April 24.
While Oshiomhole expressed confidence in the APC’s chances, he acknowledged that the party’s opponents, including the Labour Party, are also facing their internal crises.
“Our opponents have one crisis or the other, even the Labour Party has their crisis so at least APC is not in any form of crisis,” he said.
Oshiomhole, who served as the governor of Edo State from 2008 to 2016, said he briefed Tinubu on the developments in the state, noting that the president is supportive of the APC’s efforts.
“We are all waiting for INEC on April 24 to get started. So I briefed him on all of that. We are happy and he is there for us as a father but we are not going to sleep believing the father will do it for us because he is not going to come to Edo to vote,” Oshiomhole said.
The APC chieftain said the party will have to do the “voting” and “mobilisation” to capture the “campaign message that captures the imagination and Edo people can relate to.”
Oshiomhole also said he came to pay his Sallah homage to the president and to “appreciate some of the positive developments we have begun to see.”
He highlighted the strengthening of the Naira, which he said has appreciated from a low of 2,000 to the dollar to the current level of around 1,100.
“I read this morning a story from a foreign media that says the Naira is probably the best currency in 2024, given the fact that in Nigeria’s history, once the naira goes down, it never bounces back again,” Oshiomhole said.
He noted that many Nigerians had resorted to dollar speculation when the Naira hit 2,000, fearing it would continue its downward spiral, but have since suffered “huge losses” as the currency regained strength.
The former labour leader credited the Central Bank of Nigeria’s effective management of the foreign exchange system for the naira’s recovery.
“We are beginning to see a central bank that has devised very effective tools to quietly manage the system in a way the naira is appreciating and finding its level,” he said.