As the September 21 governorship election approaches, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Campaign Organization has emphatically stated that the people of Edo State will ultimately decide the outcome, rather than media commentators.
This assertion was made in response to remarks from the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, who criticized the APC’s Acting State Chairman, Emperor Jarret Tenebe, during a televised interview.
The APC’s stance, articulated by the Director of Publicity for the campaign organization, Comrade Orobosa Omo-Ojo, highlights the party’s focus on directly engaging with the electorate rather than relying on television appearances.
Omo-Ojo pointed to the widespread infrastructural decay across the state as evidence of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) administration’s failure to address the needs of rural communities.
According to him, the neglect of these areas has led to a worsening socioeconomic crisis that cannot be mitigated by media appearances or commentary.
Omo-Ojo emphasized that the upcoming election would be a referendum on Governor Godwin Obaseki’s tenure and the PDP’s performance in critical sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure.
He argued that Edo citizens would compare the current administration’s shortcomings with the progress made during the APC’s previous eight-year governance under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
In a pointed critique, Omo-Ojo underscored the poverty and hardship experienced by many Edo residents, particularly those in rural areas, as a result of the PDP’s policies. He noted that the majority of these citizens, who have been pushed below the poverty line, lack access to basic technology like Android phones, which limits their ability to engage with political discourse on social media or television.
The APC has invited media representatives to join its campaign trail to observe the real conditions in Edo’s 192 wards, rather than relying on what Omo-Ojo described as “junk data” from distant analysts. The party remains confident that the electorate will choose to “reclaim and reset” the state by voting for the APC on September 21, 2024.
