Also refutes allegation that PDP paid N5m apiece to 35 political parties to endorse Obaseki
The People’s Democratic Party, PDP has denied receiving N15 billion from Governor Obaseki of Edo State to field him as the party’s candidate for the September 19 governorship election in the state. The party (PDP) accused the All Progressives Congress, APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, of peddling falsehood following his allegation that the PDP ticket was sold to Governor Godwin Obaseki at N15 billion.
Speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the weekend, the Edo PDP Campaign Council said there was no truth in Ize-Iyamu’s allegation.
The leader of the Publicity Committee of the council, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, the owner of African Independent Television, AIT and Raypower FM accompanied by other members of the committee, including Senator Dino Melaye, wondered where the governor would have drawn such amount of money to give to the party.
Dokpesi said it was unimaginable that Ize-Iyamu, who defected to the PDP in 2016 to contest a similar position without giving anybody a dime, would be making such an allegation.
He asked the people to ignore what he referred to as the propaganda and lies of the APC, saying the allegation was designed to pitch PDP members in Edo against their leaders.
“To who did he give the money? Is it to the leaders, the governors, members of Board of Trustees, BoT? It is arrant nonsense and an unacceptable allegation. It is to incite the PDP followers in Edo State that their leaders had been ‘settled’ and they didn’t get any portion of that.”
Dokpesi also hinted that federal might would not work in Edo, saying any attempt to deploy such might would be resisted with the people’s power.
He said the majority of Edo voters were behind the PDP, while many APC members were abandoning their party to join the PDP.
In another, but related development, the Edo State Media Campaign Council of the APC also accused the PDP of doling N5 million each and a promise of N65 million to the 35 fringe political parties who endorsed his candidacy as their sole candidate for the September 19 election.
The council, through its Chairman, Prince John Mayaki, alleged at the weekend that a motley of parties opted to sell their platforms and do irrevocable damage to their potential for growth in the state by agreeing “to offer their support to a widely-rejected Obaseki.”
“With the act of betrayal and greed, it is safe to say that the 35 parties have successfully and irrevocably done damage to their integrity and placed a final barrier to any potential for growth and relevance in Edo State.
“It is shameful and unfortunate, how these persons negotiate with platforms that should contest with the major parties and force through policy changes, if at all they cannot, by themselves, form the government in the interim.
The campaign council asked Obaseki to enjoy the few headlines and news mentions that the procured endorsements would fetch him, but told him never to lose sight of the fact that in the final analysis, the mushroom parties were irrelevant and incapable of changing the minds of the majority of Edo people, who it said would massively vote for APC on September 19.