….. Says opposition party can win election under Tinubu
From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The Vice Chairman, South-South of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih has formed a Legacy Coalition to front for governorship candidate in Edo State come 2024 under the platform of the party.
The Legacy Coalition is made up of members of the old members of the party called the Legacy Group led by Orbih and some founding members of the party who had left earlier and those who came to the party with the governor (Godwin Obaseki)from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A leader of the party who attended the meeting held at the residence of the Vice Chairman, South-South of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih but preferred anonymity, disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday in Benin.
Prominent among the new group was a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, Hon Charles Idahosa, former State Woman Leader of the APC, Dr Esosa Amadasun, former Speaker of the state house of assembly, Rt. Hon Frank Okiye, a former Commissioner in the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole administration, Comrade Orobosa Omo-Ojo, nine former local government area chairmen among others.
Among the legacy group were Owere Dickson Imasogie, former senatorial candidate of the PDP for Edo North, Hon Pascal Ugbmohe, two former members of the House of Representatives, Hon Ogbeide-Ihama and Sergius Ogun, the State Secretary of the party, Hilary Otsu, the State Woman Leader of the party, Tseroe and others.
Addressing the group before it went into a closed door session, Orbih said with the victory of the PDP in the off-circle governorship election in Bayelsa state which the party won, it was possible for the opposition to win election under the President Bola Tinubu administration with proper planning even as he lamented that Obaseki’s coming into the party divided it.
“We have realized that we have challenges in our state, we have also realized that we have our destiny in our hands. The governor that will emerge through your support will be a governor that will not ask you to introduce yourself before he will recognize you, we are going to have a governor that has been part of us and will remain part of us, a governor that will realize the challenges we are facing as a state.
Orbih also stated the reason he has stopped visiting Benin as he uses to.
“One of the reasons why I am no longer as frequent as I used to be in Benin City is that each time I look at what we are facing today, I bleed in my heart. Here was a PDP that was united in love before the election of Governor Godwin Obaseki, he joined us and divided the party but today, but today with the faces of those present here, I am convinced more than ever before that the way forward for PDP to retain power is to elect one among this group who will be the next governor of Edo State.”
On his part, Charles Idahosa said the party must communicate adequately with the national leadership of the party so that they would get fair hearing even as he criticized the crisis between the governor and deputy and faulted the leaders for not speaking out against the actions of the governor which he said has made the deputy governorship position “very unattractive.”