The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje has said that having conquered Edo state, that Ondo State is next for grab in the November 16 election.
TheHintsNews reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of APC as the winner of Edo state governorship election.
Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 247,274, while Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata came a distant third with 22,763 votes.
However, Ganduje while closing the situation room set up at the party’s national secretariat to monitor the just concluded Edo governorship election on Monday said the ruling party would replicate the winning formula in Ondo State.
The chairman recalled that before the election, Edo state governkr declared that the was a “do-or-die election”, but added that the ruling party ensured that the election was “do-and-succeed”.
Ganduje said this was because “if you die, who will introduce your successor? So we are here to thank all the stakeholders.”
He assured that the ruling party would replicate the victory recorded in Edo State in the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo state
He stated: “This exercise (Edo governorship election) was a difficult one because we competed with several obstacles. We had a governor (Obaseki) who was one of our own before. We are children of the same father, but with different mothers, all engaged in the contests.
“So we didn’t part well. We parted in pieces, and then he left our party for the PDP, where the fight continued until yesterday (Sunday) when we were able to reclaim power.
“Even before the election, one side is already overheating the polity. He (Obaseki) said it is a do-or-die election. But we said ‘No’; our own would be do-and-succeed. This is because if you die, who will introduce your successor? So we are here to thank all the stakeholders.”
“From what happened, we are going to use the result, the pattern of voting, successes and failures in different units to the APC institution, which is driven by knowledge. The South East has five states. But two of them belong to our big party, the APC. So we will see how we can recover many States in our favour. I now formally close (the Edo election situation room).”