Chief O’tega Emerhor, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Delta State, said that there was nothing wrong for President Muhammadu Buhari, to visit Warri to garner support for the party.
Emerhor stated this on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He was reacting to the allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Buhari’s visit to Warri was to perfect the APC’s rigging plans in the state ahead of the March 9, Governorship and State House of Assembly Elections.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PDP made the allegation on Monday in a statement signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Dr Michael Osuoza.
Emerhor said that the President’s visit was a move in the right direction to strengthen the party structure and reposition it to take over power from the PDP, which had been on ground in the state for the past 20 years.
“It is not a crime that Mr. President is in Warri to garner support for the APC, this is election period.
“We are still campaigning, campaigns will end on Thursday and the president has the right to go to places where he feels that people will be excited to see him and support him.
“In 2015, we did not contribute much to electing the President, but this time, we went to town and said look he is our President, he has done well and for the first time we gave him massive support.
“Delta State is a tough state, but we gave over 25 per cent of the votes to Mr. President, so, we are very excited and happy that he has been returned for four more years to continue and move the country to the next level.
“He has set up a strong foundation and you will see that in the next four years Nigeria will really progress.
“When you have a PDP in the state for 20 years and they never allowed elections to hold; for the first time election will hold because the state is tired of PDP and want to join the mainstream APC.’’
However, the state’s APC Chairman, Prophet Jones Erue, said Buhari was not visiting Warri for partisan politics, but he was visiting because of the demands of the people of Delta.
Erue said he would not ordinarily respond to PDP’s allegation against the president, because it was an insult for anyone to query his movements; and it was pertinent to set the records straight.
“Ordinarily, I should have not responded or reply to the state PDP Chairman because I have called on him repeatedly that we should have a national debate and talk about issues that affect our state.
“To start attacking the President of Nigeria, the Commander-in-Chief because he decided to visit a state, is an insult, it is a joke carried too far and that is not politics, it is disrespect.
“He is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the President-elect; he chooses to visit were he wants to go, it is not the duty of any Nigerian to choose where he should visit.”
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