National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, has said only people with mental problems would vote for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming elections considering the hardship the party has inflicted on Nigerians in the past eight years.

Ayu, who stated this yesterday in Benue during the presidential rally of the party, where he urged the people to vote for all the candidates of his party, said the PDP had resolved issues with the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu and would be willing to receive the aggrieved G-5 governors.

This is as the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar assured that if elected president, he would ensure peace returns to the state and also reopen the railway lines in the state.

Relatedly, the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, has described the presidential election Poll results released by Nextier as unsupported, baseless and unempirical.

However, Ayu said though there were grievances within the main opposition party, he insisted that the party wasn’t divided, stressing that the party was already in talks with all aggrieved members of the party to ensure they come back to the party.

“All of you know that you have suffered in this country in the last eight years of APC, only somebody who has a mental problem will vote for APC. Do not waste your vote.

“Vote for every PDP candidate, the party is not divided. There are a few members, who have grievances. We are talking to them. We want to make sure they come back and work with us fully. One week is enough to change everything. This thing has been going on and I want to assure you that we’ll receive everybody back,” he said.

He appealed to the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, to comeback and fight to rescue Nigeria from APC.

Ortom, a member of the PDP G-5, a group of aggrieved five governors of the party led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, had been demanding the resignation of Ayu as a condition for reconciliation following the decision of PDP to jettison the zoning arrangement.

Other members of the G5 are Ifeanyi Ugwanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo).

Ayu stated: “I am appealing to my younger brother, Governor Ortom to come back and join us so that we will fight to rescue Nigeria. Governor Ortom has nowhere to go, his only house is the PDP and anytime that he comes, we shall be more than happy to receive him and all the PDP governors.

“Two days ago, Governor Ikpeazu was in my house because he lost his gubernatorial candidate. We have resolved the problem with Governor Ikpeazu and the whole of Abia is coming back. We want all our candidates, all our governors to be with us because if you allow APC to win this election, you will regret it.”

Speaking, Atiku, who promised to ensure peace returns to the state, condoled and sympathised with the families that have lost their lives in the past seven to eight years to farmers/Herders crisis in the state.

Atiku said: “The umbrella of Tiv people all over the world, I promise you, if you elect me as your president, just like I did in 2001, when I came to Benue and made the Fulanis to sign a peace Accord with their brother Tivs, I will come and make sure peace returns to Benue State.

“Benue State is the food basket of this country, today our farmers in Benue do not go to farm again because of insecurity. I will make sure security returns to Benue State,” he said, urging the people not to make the mistake of voting the APC again.

According to him, “Make sure that you don’t go and make a mistake of voting for APC and return them to power again. You know what we have done between 1999 and 2015? We brought prosperity, we brought jobs, peace to this country, we have the experience to repeat those feats again. So, I want to appeal to you to vote for PDP in the coming elections.”

Atiku, who assured the people of Benue that the infrastructural deficit they were facing in terms of connectivity with other neighboring states would be a thing of the past, said his administration would make sure that there was adequate funding for development of roads and railways to make sure that the transportation system was once again working.

His words: “Benue State has been a gateway state between the far north and the south, that is why we have the railway line passing through Benue SState. Today, that line is not working.I promise you that when you elect a PDP government, we shall reopen the railway lines.”

Meanwhile, the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation , which described the presidential election poll results released by Nextier as unsupported, baseless and unempirical, reacted to a projected clean sweep of the South East region at over 90 per cent of registered votes, putting Obi ahead of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu in the six South West states including Lagos.

But the Spokesperson of the Campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement issued Monday, said while the party completely rejected the polls, it acknowledged the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in its response to Nextier that Adamawa (and by extension the North East) was a stronghold of the PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar and described any speculation to the contrary as “ridiculous”

According to him, “The Atiku/ Okowa Campaign invites Nigerians to note the admission by the Tinubu Campaign, while responding to the recent Nextier Polls, that Atiku Abubakar is well-grounded, more popular than Senator Tinubu and poised for victory in the most states of the South East, South South, South West, North East and other Parts of the country.

“While we completely reject and do not recognise the said Nextier Polls as it is unsupported, baseless and unempirical, our Campaign however acknowledges Tinubu Campaign’s submission in its response to Nextier that Adamawa (and by extension the North East) is a stronghold of the PDP Presidential Candidate and described any speculation to the contrary as ‘ridiculous’.”

Ologbondiyan further acknowledged the admission by the Tinubu Campaign that South-South states of Delta, the home state of the PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, Akwa-Ibom, the home State of the Chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Bayelsa, Edo and Rivers States were impregnable strongholds of Atiku and the party and therefore declared that any poll to the contrary as jesting.

He said this was also the case in the South-East States of Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Ebonyi, which remained strongholds of the PDP with unwavering support for Atiku.

Ologbondiyan said it was also clear that Atiku Abubakar was well grounded and more popular than Tinubu in states of the North West, including Katsina, where the APC structure has collapsed into the PDP; Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kebbi where APC members are daily moving in their millions to the PDP due to the overwhelming acceptability of Atiku.

He added that in the North Central, the PDP presidential candidate was enjoying overwhelming popularity in Benue, the home state of the PDP National Chairman; Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau and the FCT, where Nigerians have demonstrated their preference for the Atiku and the PDP as evidenced in the swelling support base as well as the victory of the PDP in recent sub-national elections.

“Our Campaign also notes that the Tinubu Campaign could not lay claim on the South-West, ostensibly given the fact that Atiku Abubakar and the PDP are more popular than Tinubu in South West State of Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun as well as Lagos State, where APC Presidential Candidate’s popularity has fatally dipped following the shocking revelations of corrupt looting of the resources and assets of the State.

“Having officially conceded to the political superiority of Atiku Abubakar ahead of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election, our campaign counsels Asiwaju Tinubu to quietly withdraw from the race so as to avoid a humiliating defeat,” he said. (THISDAY)

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