Leaders of the All Progressives’ Congress, APC, yesterday converged on Benin City, the Edo State capital, where Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State led them to, among other things, lampoon the second term declaration of President Jonathan, stressing that the President actually danced on the graves of innocent children, who were killed by the Boko Haram sect a day before his declaration.
The occasion which brought the national leadership of the APC and governors serving under the party’s platform to Edo State was the sixth-year anniversary celebration of the administration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the state. Chieftains of the party who spoke at the celebration include: National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie Oyegun; National leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Chief Audu Ogbeh, former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The event also attracted Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State; Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who was represented by his deputy; former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva; former governor of Ekiti State, Niyi Adebayo; Senator Chris Ngige; Chief Segun Oni, former governor of Ekiti State; APC national and state Assembly members; representatives of the Oba of Benin and many others.
The host Governor, who reeled out the achievements recorded by his government in the last six years flayed Jonathan’s comment that the PDP will capture Edo and Rivers states in 2015 and 2016, saying, “When President Jonathan was here in September to launch the South-South rally of the PDP, he was reported as saying that Edo State will fall to PDP.
“He went on to say that Rivers will fall to PDP. Look at the word he used ‘fall.’ I want to put him on notice that Edo State is not an enemy territory to be felled by an Armed Forces and the Commander-in-Chief must not target Edo for falling, Edo will stand and march on. On the contrary, APC will defeat the President in Bayelsa State.
“APC will defeat PDP in Rivers State. APC will defeat PDP in Cross River State. APC will defeat PDP in Delta State. APC will continue to bury PDP in Edo State. What is the score card of the PDP in Edo State and in Nigeria? The PDP has commissioned the resurfacing of Ofusu to Benin in a period of 16 years.
That is all PDP has to show in Edo State over a period of 16 years. Don’t forget that the PDP Federal Government controls 52.8 per cent of declared Federal allocation. Don’t ask me what is not declared.
“So I ask the President, with all due respect, what his party the PDP has done in Edo State. This afternoon, I want to remind you of those powerful statements made by the Edionwere of Benin Kingdom, Chief Edebiri who said that this generation of Edo people will never again vote for anybody who carries an umbrella that is torn. In 2011, the President scored 96 per cent in this state. Let him show us the 96 per cent contribution of development from PDP. All we see is PDP appropriating federal money in the name of SURE-P, which is SURE-Fraud.
“By the special grace of God, by February next year, we will not vote on the basis of tribalism. We will vote on the basis of who provides power. For 16 years PDP keep promising power but it is clearly power to their stomach. As long as PDP is in power, Nigerian people will be out of power. For as long as PDP has power; Nigerian people will never have power,’’ he stressed.
Governor Oshiomhole went on to predict that President Jonathan will lose in his Bayelsa State in 2015 and be sacked from Aso Rock for an APC President to take over.
For the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who commended Oshiomhole for his achievements in Edo State, President Jonathan made a blunder by declaring openly when girls abducted in Chibok by the Boko Haram sect were either killed or yet to be found.
His words, “Jonathan is stepping on the blood of Nigerian children and dancing on their graves by declaring yesterday (Tuesday). A wise President will stay in the villa and declare his intention to run in the memory of those children. He said he will not step on the blood of anybody to be re-elected but he is dancing on their blood. No leadership of any nation will sit idle and watch any part of its own territory being taken away by the so-called insurgents.
“Mubi is the second largest commercial town in Adamawa state, if it has been taken by the insurgents, then this President should resign. If a military barrack equipped with our weapon to fight the insurgents, the armoury was abandoned and the soldiers fled, leaving the weapons for the insurgents under your watch and you said you want to run again, no. God forbids, if you refuse to go, we will sweep you away.’’
Tinubu further warned the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, against collaborating with the PDP to rig the forthcoming elections even as he berated the commission for reducing the number of voters in Lagos from the six million used in the 2011 elections to 4.8 million.
Also speaking at the event, the House of Representatives’ Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal insisted that the PDP- led administration had failed the country, noting that Nigerians were deceived to vote President Jonathan in his first tenure.
While begging Nigerians not to vote any longer based on sentiments but on credibility irrespective of the tribe of the person, Tambuwal blasted the PDP-led federal government saying, “The system we have in place today is malfunctioning.
“The government at the centre has failed in several ways and when you have a system that is not working, what do you do? You change to a better system that will deliver. The objective is to deliver good roads, provide security, enhance development in this country.
“What we have at the moment is a cabal that has hijacked the instrument of authority of the Nigerian people and we will do everything humanly possible come May 2015 to ensure that they are out of the villa and what we have is a progressive government of APC. When they came here last time, they said you should vote for him that he is from the South-South. But what have the people of the South-South benefited from this presidency in the last few years?
“When he came, he rode on the sentiment of being a minority, what have the minorities of Nigeria have to show in the last four years? Don’t be deceived again. All of us have been deceived before when we were persuaded that we needed to have this personality in government for some reasons. But it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that he has not provided good governance. All of us must agree that what we need in Nigeria is good governance and whoever can provide that should be the leader of this country not minding where he is from,” he remarked.
The well-attended anniversary celebration also witnessed the defection of former Minister of State for Works, Engr Chris Ogienwonyi and his supporters from the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, to the APC.
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