EDO 2020: Ganduje, not at my level, Wike boasts

Chairman, national campaign council of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Edo state governorship election and governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has brushed off remark credited to the governor of Kano state, Abdullahi Ganduje that he (Wike) would be isolated until the September 9 poll is concluded.

The governor in his address at the inauguration of the 93-member campaign council on Tuesday said he does not operate at the same level as his Kano State counterpart, who doubles as the chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, campaign council in the state.

According to him, Ganduje’s reference to his ‘isolation’ is nothing but a subtle plot to use security agencies to rig the election in favour of the ruling party.

He said: “Nobody can intimidate us in this election. Yesterday (Monday), I was told and today I read on the pages of newspapers that Governor (Abdullahi) Ganduje said that he was going to isolate me until the election is over. If Nigeria were to be a country, who is supposed to be isolated?


“A man who pocketed dollars in a babariga from contractors is not isolated and you say that I should be isolated? In this country, where are we heading to?

“Let me tell you why they made Ganduje the chairman of the campaign council. It is because of the dollars they saw. But for dollars,  Ganduje could not have been made the chairman of the campaign council. But what he doesn’t understand is that we from the Niger Delta, we shall “chop” his dollars and we will “chop” him into a coma. So Ganduje, your dollars will not work in Edo state. We have integrity in our party.

“But let us understand the statement made by Ganduje, don’t look at it ordinarily. What Ganduje said was that they have concluded with security agencies to make sure that the people of Edo state do not protect and defend their votes; that they will not allow them to come out and before you know it, they will announce the result.  So he just said they will isolate me. No, I am not at his level.

“To the security agencies, any attempt to rig this election in Edo state, we will all know whether it is better for us to remain here or not because Edo people have spoken and it is very clear.  Let nobody make any attempt, Edo state has come back to the PDP.”

He also chided former APC national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for saying lofting things about Governor Godwin Obaseki when the going was good only to turn around and demonize him when they fell apart.

According to Governor Wike, Oshiomhole must tell the people of Edo state what he meant when he took Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu to the cleaners in 2016 and why he has turned his preferred candidate for the same office four years later.

“A man that they said poured acid on another person’s manhood,  I didn’t say so, it was Oshiomhole that said so. You can never trust this government, and they said that the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Anti Corruption was the chairman of the panel that indicted their so-called candidate now.

“Prof. Itse Sagay, speak up now, tell Nigerians whether you are the one that indicted him or not. Oshiomhole said that this man that called himself a pastor is a terrible liar.  So they know that they have no candidate,” he added

On his part, the national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus called on President Muhammadu Buhari to conduct a free and fair election in Edo.

He further warned against the replication of what happened in Osun, Kano, and Ekiti states, noting that Edo people have resolved to keep faith with Obaseki for another four years.

“What we seek is a level playing field where the people of Edo state will be allowed to vote and their votes will count. We call on President Buhari to conduct a free and fair election in Edo state.

“By conducting a free and fair election in Edo, the President will not only be stabilizing the country politically but would be averting an impending doom that could make the doomsday prediction about Nigeria’s disintegration come true, God forbid!,” he said.

“I like also to sarcastically commend the former Governor of Edo state and also former national chairman of the ruling APC Comrade Oshiohmole for making the work of this committee easy having supplied the party with all the information needed to establish to the people of Edo state that our candidate is a square peg in a square hole,” he added.