The race for the September 21 governorship in Edo State assumed a new dimension yesterday as the leadership and candidates of five political parties adopted the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the election, Sen. Monday Okpebholo and therefore called on their supporters to vote for the APC on the day of the election.
The political parties included the National Rescue Movement (NRM), the Alliance Peoples Movement (APM) , Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Action Democratic Party (ADP).
They were received at the State Secretary of the APC by the Okpebholo, his running mate, Hon Dennis Idahosa, the Acting State Chairman of the party, Emperor Jarret Tenebe, the Secretary of the party, Lawrence Okah, the Director General of the Edo APC Governorship Campaign Council, Sen Matthew Uroghide and others.
Speaking on behalf of the other candidates who took turns to endorse the speech, Hon Sam Arase of the NRM said; “Today is another beautiful day as Edo state marks 33 years of our existence, we have decided on serious decisions as we are approaching the 21st September being the date slated for our gubernatorial election Edo State; we the assemblies of registered political parties in Edo State haven seen and watched carefully the campaign activities of the All Progressives Congress (APC), haven listened to their manifesto, we carefully watched what the candidate has in stock for the people of Edo State, we specially took one thing into cognizance and that is when he talked about how he will take care of the bastardized educational system in the state.
“Education is very paramount in whatever you are doing , today we are talking because are educated, we can read and write because we are educated, he told the people of the state that all the schools that are underdeveloped will be developed if by His grace he becomes the governor of the state, we came back home and decided to come here today as members of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), including our candidate, Dr Dennis Osahon, the Alliance Peoples Movement (APM) candidate, Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) candidate, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate and the Action Democratic Party (ADP) candidate to work together with the APC. All our candidates, having discussed with them and the leadership of our parties, we have decided to vote enmasse for the APC.
“What we want is the growth and development of this state, we want Edo to come back to its feet again, we want Edo people to know that they will elect a man who means well for them because of his antecedents which we are happy about.
“If you go to where he comes from, he has successfully developed that area which is what we want, a man of his calibre, if he is given the opportunity to govern this state we are going to witness massive development. He is a man that has respect for tradition and he respects both the old and young,
We are calling on all our supporters across the 19 local government areas to come out on the 21st of September to cast their day votes for Sen Monday Okpbholoo and his running mate, Hon Dennis Idahosa.”
