The Edo State governor and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 19 governorship election in the state, Godwin Obaseki, on Saturday said the former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has no regard for Benin people, adding that the former governor likens Benin people’s attitude to money to the way chickens run after corn thrown at them.
Obaseki said this during his reelection campaign rally in Ogbe wards 1 and 2, in Oredo Local Government Area (LGA).
“This election is not a contest between my brother Osagie Ize-Iyamu and I, but between Oshiomhole and me. We have dealt with him at the national level and will bury him politically in this election,” Obaseki said.
“The sacked APC national chairman has no regard for Benin people; he can’t dictate to the majority; he has no regard for us in Oredo. Benin people are not like chickens that run after corn thrown at them and will render the former national chairman politically irrelevant for disrespecting Benin people.
“Our place in the scheme of things is not negotiable with somebody who does not have a pedigree, who does not have the qualification to determine the political direction in Edo. Oshiomhole cannot determine who governs the state for the majority of the Benin people,” he said.
Obaseki said Oredo Local Government Area has been taken for granted for some years now and that one of the things that caused the quarrel between him and Oshiomhole was that the former APC national chairman wanted to choose who would represent the governor in the state and national assemblies.
“Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the insult? That was when this fight started, because he believed in his mind that Benin people are like chickens that run after a thrown corn,” Obaseki said.
“Not all of us are cheap; not all of us are looking for money desperately. This election is about the future of young people in Edo; this election is to tell people that politics is not a dirty game. It is only dirty when dirty people play it.
“I know I will win the election. We have almost 50 thousand registered voters in Oredo. I want us to win with a very large margin that will shock the opposition. When Oshiomhole sees that we won with a large margin, he will not have the courage to talk again in Edo,” he said.
The governor’s reelection also got a major boost as 1,000 tricycle riders from Ogbe Community in Oredo LGA endorsed him for a second term, promising to mobilise other voters across the state to ensure the governor’s victory at the poll.
Declaring their support through their chairman, Aiworo Austin, the riders assured that all the tricycle riders in the state will vote massively for the PDP.
