From Tony Osauzo, Benin

Addressing members of the party from the three Senatorial Districts of the state, Aziegbemi, Caretaker Committee Chairman of his faction of the party, set the tone by briefing on the outcome of the party’s Governorship election petition at the Supreme Court, alleging that the APC stole the mandate Edo people gave to the party’s candidate, Dr. Asue Ighodalo.

He said the PDP did all it could through the its lawyers in the legal battle but that the Presidency, Security institutions and Judiciary allegedly colluded to deprive it of victory.  Aziegbemi, therefore, pleaded with the people of the state for their understanding over the party’s failure to retrieve the mandate,  just as he commended party members for standing firm despite the setback.

“The next thing is, how do we get Tinubu out in 2027”, Aziegbemi asked, adding “We cannot with the way things are being run in the country”.

His remarks opened a floodgates of contributions from party members, with many of them pointing out that the internal crisis and divisions in the PDP makes it impossible as vehicle to unseat President Tinubu.

“If you are saying we should remove Tinubu from office, which vehicle are we going to use? If we are going to continue, we must know where we belong in the PDP that is divided. Unless we do that, we will be deceiving ourselves”, said Jimoh Ijegbai, ex-deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Speaking on behalf women, Alberta Okonofua, spoke in the same vein and urged the PDP to put its acts together adding “If we don’t put our house properly I don’t know how we are going to oust him (Tinubu)”, noting that the party has two factions in Edo which makes the task of unseating Tinubu difficult.

Also speaking, former Campaign Director General, Asue Ighodalo Campaign Organization, Hon. Matthew Iduoriyekemwen, said the party must sit down to fashion out how it will remove the President in 2027.

On the expected by-election scheduled to be conducted in August in the state, Iduoriyekemwen stated that with the institutions as they are today, I do not see how we can win any election.

“W e cannot continue like this. Mr. Chairman, if we must solve PDP problem, it must be solved from the National. If Asue’s votes didn’t count, I see any election that will count. So, we must sit down and take a decision. The PDP we have today does not have the capacity to stand in opposition to the APC”, he added.

Addressing members of the party, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of the party in 2023 governorship election, said Edo is a PDP State, stressing that “If elected is conducted today PDP would win 70 percent of the votes”.

Thanked the party faithful for standing firm and urged them to be courageous, saying that the PDP would decide what is in the best interest of Edo State.

“The leaders will meet and return to the people. Nobody would dictate to anybody. We would collectively decide where to go”, he said and thereafter announced a donation of two million naira to each of the 18 local government areas chapter of the party in the state.