Vice-President Namadi Sambo, on Saturday vowed that Edo State would re-join other states in the South-South zone ruled by the Peoples Democratic Party.
Speaking at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin, Sambo in his capacity as chairman of the 49-member PDP Committee on the Edo 2012 governorship election, Sambo said he was sure that the state would be controlled by PDP after the July 14 governorship election in the state.
PDP-controlled states in the zone include Delta, Cross-River, Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa-Ibom.
“Charles Airhiavbere (Edo PDP governorship candidate) is going to (government house) Osadebey Avenue,” Sambo said.
The VP also urged youths in the state to resist being pushed into violent activities on the date of election. He said, “The July 14 governorship poll will be a free and fair election when there will be one man, one vote.”
The National Chairman of the party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, who introduced the VP at the event, promised that the party would bring Edo back into the mainstream of South-South politics during the election.
According to Tukur, the party selected a capable hand in the person of Airhiavbere as its governorship candidate.
He said, “When you want to win a war, you go for a general.”
PDP governors present at the stadium included Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State and Senator Liyel Imoke of Cross River.
Others in attendance were party leaders such as Mr. Tony Anenih, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, Mr. Gabriel Igbinedion and Mr. Dieprieye Alamiesegha.
The Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has however, described the PDP as a party without a history of performance.
The governor, who said this during the inauguration of his re-election campaign at Oredo Ward 7 in Benin on Friday, said the greatest weapon against the PDP was its imminent rejection at the poll.
He said, “We must ask Vice-President Sambo when he comes to campaign for the PDP in the state what the party has done here. Ask the VP to go beyond the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium venue of the rally to show the people what they did in 10 years.
“If they tell you what they will do in the future, they must tell you what they did in the past. What we have to live for is to ensure that Nigeria must make progress and any invasion from Abuja to rig the election in Edo must be resisted. As future leaders, you have a duty to refuse to be intimidated.”
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