PDP Governors Accept Buhari As Winner

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state has said
that the governors of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) have accepted that General
Muhammadu Buhari will win the 2015 presidential
election.
Oshiomhole
In a statement issued by Peter Okhiria, Chief Press
Secretary to the Edo governor, he noted that if the
worry of the PDP Governors is simply that General
Buhari will do only one term as President, it means
they have already conceded victory to the APC and
have agreed that the 2015 election is already won
by the APC.
He said: “when you are playing a match and it is
clear that you are winning and your opponent is
going for your legs instead of the ball, while you
hope and trust that the referee will enforce the rule,
you must remain focused on the ball.
The PDP governors said many other things that do
not make sense. I read one of their statements that
General Buhari has signed an agreement that he is
going to do only one term, and that the North
would be short-charged, that is what they claim.
That is fine. That means they accept that Buhari
will win the election, but they are only worried
about how long he will be there for and if that
should be the burden of the PDP, it tells you that
they have exhausted everything.
“For me, they have accepted defeat by just saying
that it is now their burden whether somebody rules
for one term or not but remember that there are
many great men, assuming without conceding that
that is an issue.
“Mandela is celebrated round the world, American
Presidents, European leaders, they all competed for
space to attend his funeral. He was in office for
only five years. So statesmen are not judged by
how many years they occupy an office for but the
impact they make in the life of a nation.
“I don’t want to join those who want to move away
from the issues focusing on personality and
irrelevant issues. I think that the issue for me is
about policy choices, it is about leadership, it is
about security and wellbeing. I would have thought
PDP who have addressed how they can justify a
regime in which in the name of privatization, they
allowed private individuals to collect money, what
they call fixed charges when there is no power
supply.
“That is how the real rural poor are being
defrauded. Why we should trillions of naira be
spent on kerosene and yet poor people instead of
paying N50, PDP made them to pay N15. So even
the poor are being defrauded of N100.
“Those are the issues I expect PDP Governors to
address. I expect the PDP Governors to address
why they inherited a currency that was exchanging
at N75 to a dollar in 1999 when PDP took over
Governance and that as they were in Lagos talking
about Buhari’s security of tenure, that naira is now
N230 to one US dollar and everything is going up
“IMF is already saying that even this number is not
sustainable that you will have to suffer more
devaluation. Those are the issues we ordinary
Nigerians want the ruling party to address and if
indeed they have no answers to these questions,
they should not worry about how long Buhari will
govern, what matters is how well he will govern.”
It will be recalled that the governor of Edo state
averted what could have turned out to be a nasty
spat on Wednesday when he intervened in the
matter of which of the wives of the two major
presidential candidates should be given access to
the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium this Saturday.