Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar remains the best among the men seeking to be Nigeria’s presidency in next year’s election. He said Atiku has the capacity to transform the country.
According to Thisday newspaper, Obaseki pointed out that the ability to marshal the country’s security forces for intimidatory purposes or influence the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would not deliver victory to anyone in the 2023 general elections because the game would be different this time.
He explained why the opposition PDP was the country’s best bet in next year’s presidential election.
He stated, “I think, yes, it is nice to have a competition. But I see my presidential candidate winning this election with a landslide victory. The law (Electoral Act) has improved; it is not about your capacity to mobilise security or to supposedly have INEC rig for you.”
Speaking on the chances of 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.
“They have not delivered to expectations of Nigerians and, therefore, Nigerians cannot rely on them going forward. We must have a change. Having said that, what are the options? Interestingly, the main option is PDP and PDP is the only real organic party in the country. I give you instances from Edo State.
“PDP governed Edo for about 10 years from 1999 to 2006. When they lost the elections, they were an opposition party for 12 years, but remained a viable opposition. In two years of PDP coming back into power, APC has collapsed till this day.
“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 councilor, 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.
“For us, as a party, we have the experience, because we have been here for a long time. We are the only party that’s been here since 1999. Our ability to reawaken our party membership and also the citizens in the face of the very harsh and difficult environment facing them, gives us an opportunity.”
Obaseki spoke on the underlying qualifications of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, saying, “I was reviewing some data, which showed that between 2000 and 2010, Nigeria witnessed the most outstanding economic growth. He was vice president in that era. He was the chairman of the Economic Council. So, all the great reforms, privatisation, debt relief, he was there.
“Today, we are facing the same challenges and here is somebody who has done it before, who has had experience and you are telling me that he is old. If anything at all, he is more mature; he is more experienced. That is the kind of person we need today, because the challenges of Nigeria are not new.
“We need somebody, who understands where we are coming from. For me, I believe that Atiku is the only person in Nigeria today, who has been so positioned to help us in the transformation of this country.”
On the disagreement with the dissenting 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 Edo State governor 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.”