Ahead of the 2023 general election, Governor Godwin Obaseki has declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won’t get 25 per cent of votes in Edo State.

Obaseki said he is ready to bet his money that the APC candidates including its presidential flagbearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would not secure 25 per cent of votes in the elections.

Speaking on the chances of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Obaseki, said, “We are winning, honestly. Don’t forget that I have been in both parties. I mean, I have friends across both parties? Some people call me a rainbow governor. The truth is that, today, everybody knows that most Nigerians accept that the ruling party has failed Nigerians.

“APC will not get 25 per cent of the votes in Edo State. I am serious about it and I’m ready to bet my money on it. So, it tells you that PDP is quite an organic party. If you look at it, except in one or two states, there’s not one constituency in this country that has not produced either a PDP councillor, PDP chairman, or PDP House of Assembly member.

“It is an organic party and all it needs is to be awakened. For our presidential candidate, because he has the experience of having been in this party from the beginning since its origin; the party chairman was one of those who formed the party, they understand the DNA of the party and have just come back to reignite it.”

The Edo State governor in an interview with THISDAY dismissed the threat posed by the so-called “Obidients” (supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi), saying even though they may have something to offer Nigeria, he does not believe they are properly organised or have enough experience to threaten PDP’s chances.

According to Obaseki, “These are a group of people, who have something to offer Nigeria. They are also riding on the anger and the failure of the current government.

“As for me, are they organised enough? Do they have enough experience? You know, the candidate is my friend, Peter Obi. Does he have as much experience as Alhaji Atiku? Not yet. They will need time to mature. They will need time to grow, but for this election, February 2023, which is less than 100 days away, we will see the end result.”

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On the disagreement with the aggrieved G-5 governors of PDP, Obaseki said, “This is politics. Clearly, we all will not always have the same views on issues at the same time. But as long as we are heading in the same direction, at some point in time, hopefully, we will. Our positions will converge. The situation today is not as bad as it is being portrayed to the press. Don’t forget, we are brother governors. We are friends; we talk and we keep talking to our friends.

“At the last governors’ meeting we had a couple of weeks ago, we did agree that we were going to reach out and continue the conversation and we are doing so. The reason I said it is not as bad as it looks is because we are going to overcome it.

“Some of these brother governors are also contesting in this election and they will not want you to destroy the platform on which they are contesting. I believe that as we have these conversations, whatever issues they have, we will trash them out. The important thing is that the PDP will take over this government and rescue this country.”

The Star