elections, Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress are
planning strategies for electoral superiority in the various states
and seeking ways to undercut each other. After penultimate Saturday's
presidential and National Assembly elections, which threw up upsets in
many areas, the two main political parties are back to the drawing
board. They are thinking about fresh ways to approach the polls to
regain strength where they had lost, and reinforce their positions in
areas they recorded strong showing.
The PDP national chairman, Adamu Muazu, said his party would rebound
after losing the presidential election to APC. In a statement
yesterday by his media assistant, Tony Amadi, Muazu said General
Muhammadu Buhari's defeat of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan was
a one-off victory that would have no effect on the next elections.
In response, however, APC vowed not to lose any ground to PDP in next
Saturday's elections. APC national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed,
told THISDAY by telephone that the party was determined to win more
areas in the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
This was as 19 APC members of the 26-member Ekiti State House of
Assembly levelled allegations bordering on gross misconduct against
the state governor, Ayo Fayose, and threatened to commence impeachment
proceedings against him soon. The 19 legislators had been suspended by
seven members loyal to Fayose since November 17 last year, in a
controversial move that was widely condemned and is being contested in
the court. The APC lawmakers were also virtually banished from the
state by thugs believed to be sponsored by the governor. But,
apparently, buoyed by APC's presidential election win, the 19
legislators reconvened at the Assembly complex on Wednesday, feeling
confident that the shenanigans that had cost them their positions
might not continue with the imminent assumption of power by a new
commander-in-chief.
In a related development, unknown gunmen yesterday killed nine persons
and injured many others at Obrikom and Oboh communities in
Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State, in
what appears to be a politically-motivated violence. The Police Public
Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Ahmad Muhammad (DSP), confirmed
the incident, which was believed to have targeted
APC members, including the party's House of Assembly candidate, Vincent Ogbuagu.
Muazu asked PDP governorship and House of Assembly candidates to go
all out and re-enact the party's winning ways in Saturday's elections,
while ruling out any bandwagon effect from penultimate weekend's loss
at the presidential poll. He said the next governorship election would
provide PDP "a soft-landing after conceding the presidency" to APC in
the presidential election on March 28.
"I urge the PDP faithful to pick up the pieces and ensure that we
return quickly to our old winning ways. There should be no room for
voter apathy that was a major factor to our losing the presidential
election. While our opponents are savouring their famous victory, we
should out flank them and corner at least two-thirds of the states of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria," Muazu said in the release by Amadi.
He said, "We have done it before and we can do it again. Nothing will
be sweeter than PDP taking Lagos, our own Rivers State and Imo State.
Our candidates in these states are first class material who have fully
penetrated the political structures of those states and are set to
win.
"Our target in this remaining election should be to retain our present
states and then sink our teeth into the heart of our political
opponents and show that their presidential victory is nothing more
than a one-off that won't be repeated in a long while."
In a similar vein, Deputy Chief Whip of the senate, Hosea Ayoola
Agboola, said at the weekend in Ibadan that PDP would bounce back in
the 2019 general election, stressing that the loss of the presidency
to APC is a temporary setback.
Read more at Voicebox Of Naija:
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/pdp-apc-strategise-ahead-of-weekend-polls/206001/&ct=ga&cd=CAIyHDkzNDcyNjA0NjQzZmIyYjY6Y29tOmVuOk5HOlI&usg=AFQjCNHeZTIExnFDBFOuhI9w1Np3pTq-3g
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