By Ozioruva Aliu

NINETEEN days to the September 21 governorship election, the Oredo PDP Campaign Council, Monday, said the only candidate and political party that have the structure to win the election are Dr Asue Ighodalo and the Peoples Democratic Party.

Addressing a press conference in Benin City, the Chairman, Publicity Committee of the campaign council, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, who was flanked by other members said the election would be a three-pronged race made up of the PDP, All Progressives Congress, APC, and Labour Party, LP, but said the candidates of the APC, Senator Monday Okpebholo and that of the LP, Olumide Akpata, lack the needed capacity to lead Edo State.

Osagie said: “So that leaves us with one person, Dr Asue Ighidalo, an accomplished lawyer, who built one of the biggest law firms in Africa, Banwo and Ighodalo. They have the largest number of lawyers in the country, they pay perhaps the highest wages to lawyers. He has been chairman of many blue chip companies, he has established successful businesses. He has contributed to the development of this state pro bono providing advice and guidance to the government from the time of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole till today. So, we believe that he is the only candidate that is viable and we are calling on all Edo people to join us in Oredo because we know we are going to give the PDP and Ighodalo a landslide victory in Oredo Local Government. We are calling on all other local government areas to join us and do the right thing.”

Analysing what he said were the deficiencies of the other candidates, Osagie said Akpata of the LP is an inexperienced private sector practitioner that has never done anything in government before and that his coming from Edo South when the people wanted somebody from Edo Central also showed his political insensitivity.

On Okpebholo of the APC, Osagie said: “Even though he is from Edo Central, he also does not have the requisite persona, intelligence, brightness, to be a governor. We always hope that our leaders should be more intelligent than us because we are giving our lies to them to lead. So, how can we give our lives to someone who doesn’t know that animals are supposed to be in the zoo and not in a museum? How do you give your life to such a person, I don’t have any business with him as a person, he can be a successful businessman but not the governor of our state.”