•APC rally, display of failure – PDP
Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti; Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, assured Ekiti voters that the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Kayode Fayemi, will attract projects from the Federal Government as democracy dividends if voted into office.
Describing Fayemi as the best man for the job, Osinbajo advised voters to join other states like Osun, Ogun, Lagos , Oyo and Ondo to the APC. This was as the national chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, told voters not to chose the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
Osinbajo and other party leaders spoke in Ado Ekiti at the Oluyemi Kayode stadium during the official presentation of the party’s flag to Fayemi. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mustapha Boss, former Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, Governors Abdulazis Yari of Zamfara, Godwin Obaseki of Edo, Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo, Abdufatah Ahmed of Kwara, Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Kashim Shettima of Borno, Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun and Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi were in attendance.
At the rally, Osinbajo and Oyegun jointly received PDP defectors who were led by former Minister of Works, Dayo Adeyeye, a serving lawmaker in Ekiti State House of Assembly, Adeniran Alagbada and former Special Adviser in Ekiti State, Bosun Osaloni. Osinbajo described Fayemi as a man sent by God to deliver Ekiti from poverty, saying the July 14 election affords voters the opportunity to change their destinies for good.
“God has brought a blessed man, who is Dr Kayode Fayemi. He will do Ekiti a lot of good if elected governor. He will bring development to your doorsteps. On July 14, don’t look back or sideways, just look forward to the future ahead of you by voting for Fayemi. APC is a party of progress. Let us vote for APC in this election. APC will help Ekiti to develop, because the PDP has outlived its usefulness.
“Immediately I entered Ekiti, I could smell the resounding victory we will record on July 14. You have tested two wives, and you have known who is best. Fayemi is the best man for the job. He will do Ekiti proud and restore honour and dignity to your state”, Osinbajo said.
Welcoming the defectors, Oyegun assured that nobody will be discriminated against in the party.
“You are welcome to a progressive party that is steering the ship of our nation to the right shore,” he said.
While speaking, Tinubu, said Ekiti should not be excluded from the ‘broom revolution’ that is blowing across the nation, saying that change is necessary and urged voters to get their Permanent Voter Cards to effect such change.
“ If you really want progress, what is the essence of you staying here from morning without having a PVCs. Ekiti won’t go back to sadness and poverty.The PVCs represents your red card on the day of election. I want you to give PDP a red card on the day of election. Fayemi was a Minister and he now understands the game. I want you to vote him 100 percent on July 14”, Tinubu pleaded.
Oshiomhole , described the PDP as a party that was dictatorial while in the saddle of governance in the country. “We thank God that we have swept them away. I was on my way here from Edo in 2014 when Fayemi was seeking reelection when the PDP stopped me at Benin Airport; even as a sitting governor. PDP was known for abuse of power and their days were gone.
“Ekiti is the most educated state in Nigeria and I knew you voted for Fayemi in 2014, because Ekiti has highest pupil enrolment in schools then and I know that a state that is highly educated like Ekiti could not have voted for a roadside banana eater. On July 14, it is one man, one vote , one woman, one vote. Your votes will count this time. Nobody will tinker with it”, he said.
Fayemi, while addressing supporters promised that all the programmes initiated by his administration but abrogated by the present government will be restored in the interest of the populace.
“The Youth in Agriculture, Youth volunteer, the Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency, Social Security scheme and other landmark programmes will be revamped for the benefit of Ekiti people. Governor Ayo Fayose said he wanted continuity, I know Ekiti won’t subscribe to continuity of poverty, wanton neglect, fraud and pauperisation of our people in the name of governance,” Fayemi said.
In a related development, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has said the APC has nothing to offer the people of the state.
The PDP in a statement by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday, dismissed the APC governorship mega rally as a “dramatic display of the failures embodied in the party.”
It said none of the speakers at the rally disclosed any significant plan, which the ruling party has for Ekiti people.
The PDP said that the rhetoric at the rally were tantrums against the state Governor Fayose, instead issues of development which the APC candidate, Kayode Fayemi, had always claimed to be his area of strength.
“This was evident as Fayemi could not even itemise his last achievements in office, if any, upon which he wanted to be re-elected.The rally therefore ended as a political comic relief for the PDP as many of the APC gladiators at the rally attested to the fact that Ekiti had been transformed from her poorly developed status in 2014 when Fayemi ruled. He oought to have listened to the drumbeats of his invited guests as they spoke poorly of his tenure.
“If his (Fayemi’s) own guests could adjudged his tenure with such dismal illustrations, is it the Ekiti that he left in embarrassing debt in 2014 that will reward his failure with another term in office?
“PDP urges the people of Ekiti State to rally the peoples party ahead of the July 14 governorship election citing the huge development which the incumbent Governor, Ayodele Fayose has brought to bear across the entire state,” the party stated.