Laide Raheem, Abeokuta

A former governor of Ogun State and the Deputy Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council (South), Gbenga Daniel, on Sunday, declared that the presidential election slated for February 16, “has already been won” by the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Daniel, expressed this optimism while fielding questions from newsmen in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State,  shortly after he addressed PDP supporters as part of the campaign council’s tour of Ogun East senatorial district.

The former governor said that he had gathered from his interactions with Nigerians who confessed to him that they indeed made a mistake in 2015, by voting for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), adding they have made up their minds to correct such a mistake by returning PDP to power next Saturday.

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Daniel, who blamed the ruling party for being the harbinger of the economic woes, insecurity and high rate of unemployment bedevilling the country, noted that Atiku’s presidency would bring back the glorious years and economic boom of the PDP, if voted into office.

“You can see that unemployment rate at the national level has plummeted, the security today is nothing to write home about. You can also see that the economy has virtually collapsed. So,  when you look at all these indices both at the state and national level, you will find out that unfortunately the expectations of the people are not being met.

“The coming election is between two people; the people who are there known as the APC and the main opposition party which is PDP.

“What Nigerians were saying is that they believe they made a mistake in 2015 and they want to correct the mistake.

“We, therefore, decided to come out to interact with our people at all levels, especially the grassroots, to remind them the kind of administration we ran when we were there and to tell them this is opportunity which is coming up on Saturday for them to return PDP to power.

“I think without any doubt that this election is won. I have been all round the country and I have no doubt that PDP has won this election. The challenge we have is to ensure that rigging is prevented and I am very sure Nigerians will not allow that to happen”. He stated.

He, however, appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to do the right thing, saying “whatever they do, they must understand that Nigerians are watching. This is not between the PDP and anybody,  this is a problem of the Nigerian people and the people will not take it lightly with anybody who tries to down play this election”

Daniel also knocked the incumbent administration in Ogun, accusing it of marginalisation, uneven distribution of developmental projects and squandering of state resources.

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“You can clearly see that our people have become fed up with the current administration at all levels.

“In Ogun State in particular, if you see what is going on in the last eight years, you can see that the large section of the state keeps crying marginalisation, you can see that development that we have witnessed has not be even, you can see that the number of the priorities that have been set are not the immediate needs of the people.

“You can see to a very large extent that there are had been what we can call the squandering of the resources of the people with projects that do not fall within the priority of the people,” the former governor submitted.