Edo Election: PDP Defeated APC Because Residents Voted Against Injustice – Rochas Okorocha

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost the just concluded governorship election in Edo State because the residents voted against injustice.

KnyiDaily had reported that APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, was defeated by his closest rival, Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), during Edo governorship election on Saturday, September 19, 2020.

Reacting while speaking with journalists on Sunday, Okorocha described the loss of his party as people’s revolution against injusticen in APC.

Okorocha, a senator representing Imo West Senatorial Zone, recalled warning APC leaders to address some of the issues threatening the party’s sustenance.

He said APC members’ respect for President Muhammadu Buhari was the reason the party is still intact, warning that there could be an imminent possible implosion in the party if the leadership failed to address Its crises.

“If the report I am getting from Edo is not quite interesting when injustice comes into a matter, the centre can no longer hold and that is the problem of the party.

“I forewarned about what is happening today in our party and if the result in Edo comes out and PDP wins, it means we don’t have APC in the south-south, that is a bad sign,” he told journalists, Sunday, in Abuja.

Okorocha who spoke to the media ahead his 58 birthday anniversary, said: “In the Southeast, literally we can say we don’t have APC, we just managed through the Ben Johnson way to get one state and that does not make our image good.”

“The same party under the leadership of President Buhari, a man we considered a clean man, an honest man, a patriotic man and these are happening, that means it is unfortunate.

“The truth is, what I have been talking about has come to play. If PDP wins in Edo, I will not congratulate the PDP, I will congratulate the Edo people. I congratulate them for standing up against injustice because the people that voted for Obaseki are not only PDP, even people in the APC voted for him. They want to stand up for injustice, Edo people are not docile, they know what they want and how they want it”, he added.

Senator Okorocha, who is a founding member of the party, speaking on the current state of the party, insisted that respect for President Muhamamadu Buhari was the only reason APC was still existing.

The senator said the party died the day the leadership abandoned the progressive and democratic ideals on which it was founded.

He alleged that apart from President Buhari, the other leaders of the political blocks that merged to form the party in 2015, were practically schemed out by forces that joined the party.

“just permit me to give you the inside of APC, this word APC was formed by four major political parties that had governors, one was the CPC-led by President Muhamamadu Buhari, ACN-led by Ahmed Tinubu, ANPP-led by Ogbonnaya Onu brought their structure, APGA-led by me brought in our structure, every other person fell into this structure. The PDP group came in and joined us. I gave the name APC, I designed that logo and that was the beginning of the party and we had an understanding.

“That is the party you call APC and unless we go back to where it all started, APC can never see the light of the day and that was how we started and that was what brought President Muhamamadu Buhari to office.

“You cannot rule out the role of these four key people, then CPC has only one governor in Nasarawa, APGA had only one governor, ACN came with the chunk of the governors and ANPP had a few. And we shared the first positions equally among these four parties.

“Now the founding fathers of the part are relegated to the backgrounds and people are coming with different interests making us play the same kind of politics that PDP played.”

According to him, “there is no more APC, what we have is the respect for President Muhammed Buhari, that is what is keeping us together. What we have is our respect for the person of President Muhammadu Buhari and we still believe that something can be done.”

“That trust and respect is what we still call APC, outside that, respect for President Mohammadu and the trust and belief that he could wake up one day and correct all these injustices and make it fine. That’s the only thing that is keeping the APC, if not that, I don’t think there is anything like APC because people are beginning to get fed up. Again, PDP is not even better, the party has its own challenges.

“In 2023, I think people are going to vote a cording to their conscience. People are beginning to realize that a political platform is not the best to give you what you need. People are beginning to be more politically aware that individuals are more important than the name political party”.

Meanwhile, Former Kogi State lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye has mocked the former APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, after losing the governorship election to Governor Obaseki of the PDP.