Director-General, Edo Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Matthew Aisagbonriodion Urhoghide, has x-rayed the positive chances of the APC ahead of the September 21, 2024, gubernatorial election in the state, insisting that the party’s candidates “are currently enjoying the massive support, mandate and endorsement of the people of the state.”
Senator Urhoghide, while speaking with newsmen in Abuja over the weekend, maintained that with the party’s governorship candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, enjoying the mandate of the people of Edo Central senatorial district, via the resounding victory he secured at the National Assembly elections just last year February, and the Deputy Governorship candidate, Hon. Dennis Idahosa serving a second term mandate in the House of Representatives, representing the people of Ovia Federal Constituency in Edo South senatorial district, their chances of clinching victory for the APC remain bright, “as no candidate of other contending political parties in the election has such mandate and recent endorsement of the people.”
The Edo APC Campaign Council DG, while underscoring his own antecedents as a “political Trojan,” especially in Edo South senatorial district, where he recently concluded a remarkably flowery 8-year tenure as Senator representing the district, emphasised that with the aggregate complementary efforts of the party leadership across the three senatorial districts of Edo South, Edo Central and Edo North, the APC and its candidates would have a safe and steady cruise to clinching victory on September 21, 2024.
Said Senator Urhoghide: “Asking me to be the DG of this campaign, is really asking me to come and handle a very tough job; the tough job of having to see the party through the preparations, the campaigns and of course into the election, and also through the post-election activities. It is not easy, and I never anticipated it to be easy; having to traverse the entire state, campaigning, selling our candidates. Though I did it during my campaigns as Senator, but that was essentially for Edo South district; this time around it would be across the three senatorial districts, and surely that is going to be expectedly laborious.
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“It is a good thing that our candidate has earlier won the senatorial election in Edo Central; and as our governorship candidate, I think it would be a lot easier to rally the people to support him again, because they massively voted for him just a year ago, 2023; and so far, based on what he has done and achieved for the people, I think they, too, would readily support him and the party, and give him their mandate again. I think it is quite auspicious, the time he has chosen to indicate interest to run for the governorship of the state.
“And for Edo North, the APC as a party was able to secure the mandate of the people of the district, also in the election last year, 2023, through Senator Adams Oshiomhole who is today representing the district in the 10th Senate; so, if you look at it in a way, Edo South is complementing Edo Central and the Edo North districts, and the party enjoys popularity right now.
"While our governorship candidate is holding the people’s mandate presently in Edo Central, the running mate is the incumbent House of Representatives member, representing the people of Ovia Federal Constituency. He is doing a second term now, having won first in 2019 and the people renewed the mandate in 2023. If you look at our candidates, vis-à-vis the party, they are enjoying popularity in their different constituencies, Senate and House of Representatives; and the party, on which platform they won their elections, is equally enjoying popularity; so, on that basis, they are the only ones in this race who enjoy the mandate of the people; no one else in the race that enjoys this mandate. And that is a huge plus for the APC.”
While insisting that “the essence of government and political governance is to meet the aspirations of the people, enhance their welfare and standard of living, and create an enabling environment for them to pursue their legitimate businesses,” Senator Urhoghide opined that any head of government that is able to put egg-heads together to achieve this for the people would be celebrated, noting that the APC and its candidates were focused on delivering this template of effective governance for the people of the state.