Edo poll: Shettima, Akpabio, others mobilise support for Okpebholo

Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, Cross River State Governor Bassey Edet Otu, Ondo State Governor Lucky Oyedatiwa, among others, attended the final campaign rally for the Edo State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress.

Addressing the party faithful at the University of Benin Indoors Sports Complex, Ugbowo Campus, Vice President Shettima said Edo State needs a strategic thinker, builder and a man with a compassionate heart who can lead his people aright.

He said intelligence is not determined by the size of the head but by one’s ability to solve problems that affect people.

Shettima added that he has absolute confidence that Senator Monday Okpebholo and his running mate, Dennis Idahosa, will deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of the state.

He urged the people of the state to come out in large numbers to vote for the candidates of the APC come September 21.

Also, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said he believes in the capacity of Senator Monday Okpebholo and his running mate, Dennis Idahosa, to deliver on their electoral mandate.

He said he doesn’t need somebody who can speak “grammar” but one who can perform.

Akpabio said Okpebholo, as a senator, has been living up to his billings in the National Assembly, stressing that there is no doubt about his ability to deliver the dividends of democracy at all.

On his part, Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, said Governor Godwin Obaseki has been insensitive to the plights of the people of the state, noting that there is nothing to write home about his eight years in office as the governor of the state.

He said the markets that were burnt during his tenure were not rebuilt; rather, the hospital and the state library were converted into museums and shopping malls.

On the part of the party’s national chairman, Umar Ganduje, said the state has been mismanaged for the past eight years as it was marred with insecurity and unemployment and that it is time for them to take it back by voting for the APC.

He said that, with the likes of Senator Monday Okpebholo and his running mate, Dennis Idahosa, who are lawmakers, the state is in safe hands.

On the part of the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Monday Okpebholo, he said he would employ 5000 teachers within his 100 days in office as governor of the state.

He assured the market women of soft loans to boost their businesses just as he promised to build primary healthcare around the 192 wards in the state.

Earlier, the national chairman of the party, Ganduje, received a former senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Senator Francis Alimikhena and the former member representing Oredo federal constituency, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, who decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party into the APC.

Senator Francis Alimikhena, who said he was glad to be back at the APC, said he was going to mobilize his followers to vote for the party in the forthcoming governorship election.

Taking his turn, Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama said he had earlier advised his former party, the PDP, against its decision when it brought in Governor Godwin Obaseki in 2020, but they didn’t listen to him.

He also advised when they again brought in Asue Ighodalo, the governorship candidate of the PDP, they still did not listen to him.

“In 2020, I advised PDP against impunity when they brought in Governor Godwin Obaseki through the back door. In 2024, Governor Godwin Obaseki, His Excellency who came through the back door, went to Lagos to bring Asue Ighodalo through the back door. The man only joined the party in September last year. That impunity must stop.

“All those who supported that, the national working committee, they should come with their Voter Cards on Saturday.”