The Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Edo State, Dr Asue Ighodalo, has promised to surpass the achievements of incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki if he wins the September 21 governorship poll.
Ighodalo said on Wednesday while addressing his supporters at the Benin Airport, shortly after his return from Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ighodalo received his certificate of return on Tuesday at the PDP secretariat in Abuja, having won the party’s governorship primary conducted last week Thursday.
The former Chairman of Sterling Bank polled 577 votes to defeat nine other governorship aspirants, including Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, who conducted a parallel primary.
Addressing his supporters on Wednesday, Ighodalo thanked them for coming out in large numbers to welcome him and promised never to disappoint them.
He said, “Having received the PDP certificate of return certificate, now is the time for real work.
“I want to thank you all for this show of love and support, because if not for you people, we would not be where we are now.
“This is the time for the real work to commence and by the grace of God, we are going to work hard in order to achieve our target.
“Where Governor Obaseki will stop in terms of development, we are going to continue from there and even do more for Edo people.”
Meanwhile, Shaibu was at the national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja on Wednesday.
Speaking with journalists on the purpose of his visit, Shaibu stated, “Today is the day set aside for the collection of certificate of return for the winner of the primary. I understand someone came yesterday and was given. Well, the court will decide.
“When the party’s internal mechanism is being followed and it’s obvious that the party is not ready to listen, the next line of action obviously will be the judiciary, but I pray we don’t get there and that is why I came here today.”
He said if the party’s leadership heeded his demand and issued him the certificate of return “there will not be the need to go to court. But if they don’t do what is needful, needful in the sense that I won the primary with the authentic delegates, the certificate should be returned to me, if that is not done, we will not have any choice but to seek interpretation by the court.”
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
