From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it is ready to prevent the theft of its votes in the forthcoming Edo and Ondo states governorship polls.
The Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, stated this, yesterday, at the inauguration of the National Campaign Council for the two states.
Damagum, who noted that the opposition party was battle ready, said the PDP will not allow anyone rob it of victory.
According to him, the PDP would not allow election results to be announced at night, noting that the party has performed well in Edo and he was confident the party would retain the state.
“From the way these candidates emerge, it has shown that we are truly democratic. And also, this should give you the faith that what you are going to embark on will yield the desired fruits.
“I watched the remark, especially where President Bola Tinubu said he will take Edo for his party, APC. Like we have always said, he has tried it before, and we have a slogan that ‘Edo no be Lagos.’ So, I want to use this opportunity to stress that we are in a democratic dispensation and there are rules that have to be adhered to.
“We will not sit down and allow anybody snatch, grab and run with our victory. We are battle-ready for any thief that rears its head to steal our fortune. We have done so well in Edo State. We thank the governor. We are very proud of him. And our records in that state speak volumes.
“So, to those that think they will take Edo, I want to tell them that it is going to be very difficult for them because we are in a democratic dispensation. We will not make the mistakes we have made before. And this time around, there is no announcement of results in the middle of the night.”
On Ondo, he said: “We’re now more committed, more resolved. We have a brand new candidate who is so much endowed with wisdom. And if I can say, his emergence has a hand of God in it, because all of us, to tell you the fact, never gave him any opportunity to emerge.
“But because we said, let it be free and fair, he emerged without any blemish. I believe most of those that contested with him are here today. Just to show you that we are truly a democratic party. We don’t grab. We don’t steal. We work with the people and we open our hands to them and we show them what we will do for them.
“We know their concoction. We know what they do. So for those going to Ondo, you have a very daunting task before you. You have to open your eyes, shine your eyes. They will come with all sorts of antics, but this time around, we are ready for them.
“We will be here. We will give you all the support and we will be there for you. And I pray that these two campaign councils will give us the desired results in these two elections. I am sure we will take Ondo as well. Edo is already ours. It will remain PDP. Ondo will be for us to take.”
Chairman of PDP Edo State Governorship Campaign Council and Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, assured that the councils were prepared to assume leadership in both states.
“We are ready for Edo and by extension Ondo. We will not leave anything to chance. We will leverage on Obasaki’s performance. We have a low hanging political fruits in the two states.
“We should go with all seriousness. We will match APC. With technology, rigging is very minimal. PDP has bright chances in the two states. Edo has registered over 2000 since new registration has started. It shows that the people are with us, and all of these will count for our party’s candidate in the election,” Fintiri said
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