The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State, Asue Ighodalo, says he feels the pain of the people of the state and he will “brighten their faces” if elected.

“Part of why I am in this is to ensure that I work hard to ameliorate the pain and suffering of the people of Edo State,” Ighodalo said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday.

He also assured voters in the state that he was not coming into government to serve the interest of any godfather.

The forthcoming governorship election in the state has top contenders including Ighodalo, Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), and Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ighodalo, former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), was anointed by the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, who shunned his deputy and party man, Philip Shaibu.

The PDP candidate said he would improve the lives of the people of the state if elected as governor as he feels their sufferings.

Ighodalo said, “I’ve been round the whole state; 192 wards. I’ve been round the state. I talk to the people, high and low. I feel the people. I feel their pain, I feel the lack, I feel the discountenance and the pain a lot of them feel.

“Many don’t have food… people can’t pay for food, people can’t pay for medical services, people can’t pay for their kids to go to school, people can’t get their goods into the market, people can’t get their goods processed, people can’t farm again because they are afraid of going too far away from their homestead to farm.”

Ighodalo said working alongside his running mate, Osarodion Ogie, they will “brighten the faces of the people of Edo State, we will improve the lives of the people of Edo State. We will make Edo State a safe and secure place to live and to work, and to play and to go to school”.

He said some policies of the Federal Government were not well-thought-through and have been affecting the state despite the efforts of the Obaseki administration.

“In Edo, we will cocoon ourselves and reverse the impact of these policies of the Federal Government,” he said.

Ighodalo further described the judgement of the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, which on Monday, set aside a judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court and affirmed him as the PDP governorship candidate for the September poll.

He said with the “distraction” now out of his way, he can focus on the election before him.

He expressed confidence that he will win the election as President Bola Tinubu has assured the people of the state of a level playing ground during the poll. (Channels TV)

Update news