ALL EYES ON EDO GUBERNATORIAL POLL

of the state and federal government and its security agencies.

This, perhaps, was while speaking in Benin City at the weekend, the National Chairman of the APC, who is an indigene of the state, Chief John Odigie Oyegun appealed to the people of the state to vote massively for Obaseki in order to consolidate the gains of Oshiomhole’s unparalleled achievements in the last seven and half years.

He said the party had performed creditably in its almost eight years in government as against the over 10 years the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in charge in the state.

“Our campaign has been very good. There was a period of drama but all that is behind us and the arguments are very clear irrespective of whatever individual issues there must be and there have been. The issue is simple: we have had the APC in government for seven years plus; before that we had PDP in government in the state for 10 years. You can hardly see anybody who can point to any single substantial development in the 10 years of PDP compared with the almost eight years of APC under Oshiomhole and that in fact, decides the issue.

“When you ask people, ‘what is your preference, do you want the good times to continue or do you want to revert to the bad old days’, the issue becomes very clear and then you get a resounding ‘let the good days continue’. That is where the debate rests and the result has been very good. Yes, there was a time when there were all sorts of discordant tunes as a result of group interests, personal interest but all that had been sorted out now. I think we are rowing down to a very substantial victory, no doubt at all,” he said.

On the fears that the prevailing economic downturn under the APC federal administration could sway votes in favour of the PDP, Odigie-Oyegun said, “Again, if you stretch it down, it is the same argument. One thing that pleases me today is that Nigerians and the ordinary voters are more perceptive than we think they are. Yes, the APC at the national level has been in office for one year plus but everybody knows that the problems we have today could not have been created in one day.

“We have come to fix the nation, to fix the problems, otherwise as a people, as a nation, we would have been going through a struggle for existence and a great challenge would have been confronting this nation. These were the issues and challenges that were inflicted on this country by years of or a decade and a half of poor governance at the national level.

“Unfortunately, as if that was not enough, we also took over at a time when the crude market collapsed from $100 dto $140 a barrel to a time when sometimes, we were managing to make $40. At some stage, it was less than $30 per barrel. That is the reality and the people recognise this. It does not stop the fact that they are aching, it does not stop the fact that they are in pains, that they are hungry. But they know these are not the creation of the APC and that what the APC under Buhari is set to do is to ensure that the fundamental problem with the country, a mono-culture economy is solved once and for all.