By Seyi Babalola
Oredo Political Front has called on Governor Godwin Obaseki and Chief Dan Orbih, National Vice-Chairman, South-South of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to consolidate their recent reunion by backing the Mr Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, the only PDP aspirant it says can win the governorship election.
The group while lauding the governor for breaking the ice in the relationship between him and Orbih by his Christmas visit to the PDP chief, said it was incumbent on them to move the reconciliation forward by backing the only aspirant that can retain the state for the PDP.
The OPF in the statement issued by its national coordinator, Ken Ekpe, said:
“We were glad to see Governor Godwin Obaseki visit Orbih for a Christmas visit. That was salutary given the history of discord that had shadowed their relationship in the last few years.
“We, however, call on them to move the process forward in backing a common candidate to win the election for the PDP. We dare say that there is no other person with a stronger capacity than Ogbeide-Ihama who has shown electoral vigour on the ground and a popularity around the political firmament in Edo State.
“We need not remind our governor how Oredo Federal Constituency was impregnable for his former party when Ogbeide-Ihama contested and won the elections on a record two times in 2015 and 2019 despite having APC governors in control of the state capital.
“It is sufficient logic to say that when a man wins the election in the state capital despite being from the opposition party he must be a strong man.
“As passionate supporters of Ogbeide-Ihama we dare say that his street popularity is also attested to among the elites who are enthusiastically backing him.
The group also charged Chief Orbih that he has a moral burden to back Ogbeide-Ihama given the fact that he was a witness to the pressure piled on the former lawmaker to withdraw from the 2020 PDP primaries to allow Obaseki get the ticket.
“It is for these two reasons that we call on Obaseki and Orbih to strengthen their new unity by jointly backing the only man that can win the governorship seat for the PDP in Edo State,” the statement concluded.
