By Henry Umoru

ABUJA — AHEAD of next month’s general elections, the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, boasted, yesterday, that it will reclaim all the states it lost to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, through defection of governors.

PDP in a statement, by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said besides winning Sokoto, Kano, Kwara, Rivers and Imo states, it had put in place measures that would enable it win additional states, especially Lagos and other states in the South West.

According to Metuh, with the candidates it was fielding for the elections and what he termed, verifiable record of performance and the support of a majority of the voting population, it would win overwhelmingly next month.

He said: “The PDP stands out as the only party that commands genuine followership among Nigerians irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliations. This will drive the voting pattern and reflect accordingly in the results of the presidential, governorship, National and states assembly elections across the federation.

“This election is beyond propaganda and empty popularity claims in the social media. Nigerians will vote; their votes will count and this will give us victory. This is because we are running on a record of verifiable achievements of our elected and appointed officers at the federal and state levels.

“Our presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan and our great party have suffered undue criticisms from misguided quarters. The opposition has tried so hard to taint our image. They have made efforts to portray us in bad light. They have insulted, abused and maligned us, but we have refused to be defined by their propaganda and deceit. We and many more innocent Nigerians became victims of bad politics by desperate individuals who promote divisions and violence in their selfish quest for power.

“Nevertheless, our satisfaction is that a majority of Nigerians appreciate our sincerity, our achievements and above all, our commitment in sustaining our democracy and the unity of our dear nation in the face of daunting challenges.

“Nigerians appreciate that it is not by chance but through hard work and careful planning that our economy grew to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the largest in Africa.

“It is also to the credit of the PDP-led administration that freedom and personal liberty, essential components of democracy, have been enhanced.

“Today, Nigerians relish all forms of freedom, social justice, and fairness in line with the ideology and manifesto of the PDP.”