Address of the PDP National Chairman Prince Uche Secondus at the inauguration of the Ekiti State Governorship Campaign Council at the Party Hqs Wadata Plaza, Abuja on Monday’ JUNE 4, 2018.
Protocols.
May I in the name of God, the omnipotent welcome you all to this very important gathering marking the inauguration of our party’s campaign council for the July, 14, 2018 gubernatorial election in Ekiti state.
The caliber of names drawn up as members of this council shows in an unmistaken terms the importance the party attaches to this exercise.
Ekiti state means so much to our party because of the strategic position it occupies in that geopolitical region and the fact that it’s a test run election ahead of Osun state governorship election in September and the general elections in less than one year from now.
Ordinarily given the enviable achievements of our party in the state in the area of delivering democracy dividend to the people in the last three years under the leadership of our able irrepressible Chairman of PDP Governors Forum, Chief Peter Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti should be a smooth contest for us, but intelligence available to the party shows that the All Progressives Congress, APC is planning in their own words to “capture Ekiti at all cost”
Part of the costs has started manifesting with the shooting carried out at their own rally on Thursday last week which happened to be a continuation of the violence they launched on themselves and the state since their primaries last month.
Because of their desperation, a hitherto peaceful state of Ekiti has been turned into a war zone for a party whose electoral presence in the state is very negligible if any at all.
Your Excellences, this campaign council has a gigantic task of achieving one thing, to ensure that the electoral desires of Ekiti people are realized.
Your work basically is to harness the aspirations of Ekiti people and ensure that their will prevail.
Recently I have had to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari to be at the forefront for the campaign for one-man-one vote ahead of 2019 because the indicators out there are not palatable.
The signs are there for all to see that the attitude of the ruling party is that of a drowning man desperate to survive and whose posture is ‘if I cannot make it let me go down with others’
The heightened heat in the polity right now in the country is unnecessary if the APC administration is willing and equipped to face the electorates, but where it’s obvious that they have nothing to offer to get the votes of Nigerians, they are resorting to all devious means to undermine the democratic process.
Information available to us shows that in Ekiti, they are trying to use all skillful underhand means to achieve goals but the people are well charged to not only come out to cast their votes on July 14 but that they are ready to defend it.
At this juncture, let me warn that if there is any attempt to thwart the will of the people in Ekiti state, there may be no general election and the entire democratic process will be in endangered.
I recall drawing the attention of APC recently to the negative aspect of our history associated with trying to obstruct the will of the people as willingly expressed through the ballot box. I tried to let them know that Ekiti state shares in that history when the then second republic ruling National Party of Nigeria NPN attempted to use their federal controlled might to hijack power from the then Unity Party of Nigeria UPN that was on ground in the old Ondo state for which Ekiti was part.
Men of wisdom had long told us that the easy way to repeat history is to refuse to learn from it. I charge APC leadership to take time and read our political history and know that the route they are headed are akin to that of the NPN days if not worse.
APC has no positive record in Ekiti state to warrant their thinking that they could win election and they know this as a fact.
We are aware of the scheming going by the ruling party to connive with the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, to rig election and the commission should brace up for the consequences that accompany such despicable act.
I wish therefore to call on the international community and all lovers of democracy to show more than passing interest in what is going on in Nigeria today and watch as our democracy is being violated and ambushed.
In this country now, the opposition and anybody holding dissenting views from that of the small clique of persons hanging on to power today have been marked either to be framed up for criminal offenses or for corruption.
A sitting Governor in Rivers state, Nyesom Wike had cried out recently that there is attempt to assassinate him but his case was treated with levity only for Nigerians to witness a high profiled failed assassination attempt in Ekiti last week at a rally.
PDP is also privy to a very strong rumour of a secret grand plan of the APC government where a special killer squad is being trained and armed to kill opponents and disperse rallies especially in the area where they expect PDP rallies to intimidate their own.
The motive of all these deliberate Police state being established by the ruling party is obvious; to distract and disorganize the opponent to enable them hold on to power and establish one party state.
Never, not even in the draconian days of the military rule was number three citizen of the country and an incumbent governor framed up for armed robbery. This government has become a frame up administration. Senator Rabiu Kwakwaso’s aide was locked for weeks where they were searching for things to frame him up; Senators Dino Melaye and Shehu Sani have all been framed up for being vocal against unjust system being perpetuated by this administration government.
The deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has had his guest house ransacked where they were looking for something to frame him up.
Despite their immunities, Governor Wike has had to seek court protection to halt search in his house. Governor Fayose has just alerted the nation of plans to frame him up in the APC rally shooting. Nigerians should watch and be ready for the sacrifice to save not just our democracy but the country. What is however certain is that victory is ours in the end because Nigeria cannot afford this APC journey any longer.
We hear that they want to know where we are deriving our confidence and our response to them is that our power comes from God the giver and taker of all things and to the people of Nigeria who are distraught with the underwhelming level of governance in the country in the last three years.
Your Excellences, I wish you result filled exercise and I therefore inaugurate the council.
