The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, declared on Monday, September 23, that following the party’s victory in Edo state, the party is poised to retain the Ondo governorship seat in November.
Speaking at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, Ganduje celebrated the victory of Senator Monday Okpebholo with members of the Edo election situation room.
He emphasised that the party will also work hard next year to unseat the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra and expand its influence in the southeast.
Ganduje noted that the APC will apply the same winning strategy from Edo to secure victories in the upcoming Ondo and Anambra governorship elections.
He stressed that winning Anambra would benefit the Southeast, joining Imo and Ebonyi as APC-led states, thus addressing the region’s concerns over marginalization.
“We have started working to develop strategies to win these states. Next year, Anambra State will follow. Let me remind you that we have a project which we named political demarginalisation of South East geo-political zone,” he said.
“That project is also a task that must be done. We will face the south-east zone with five states. We already have 2, but 2 is too small for a big party like ours. We will face that state and see how we can recover many states in our favour.”
Ganduje explained that the APC was left with no choice but to deal the death kneel to Governor Godwin Obaseki led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) due to his intransigent nature.
“This exercise was a different exercise because we were competing with a sitting governor and a Governor that was one of our own before. We are children of the same father but different mothers. When you have such a contest, it is always keen.
“We didn’t part well, we parted in pieces when he left. And the fight continued till yesterday when we were able to bring him down. You can see why we were exchanging blows, and wrestling in a civilized contest.
“So defeating the governor was a task that must be done. He said it was a “do or die affair”. But we said no! Our own is “do and succeed” because if u die what’s the essence of success? We did the fight and we succeeded.”
