Ahead of Edo state governorship election, the Deputy Governor, Hon. Philip Shaibu, has said he won’t be intimidated from contesting the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
He also said there is a plot to return the state to businessmen, warning that the state cannot return to Egypt.
Shaibu, who spoke when he submitted his nomination form at the PDP national secretariat to contest the party’s governorship primary scheduled for February 22, disclosed that he has been intimidated and harassed but that he will come out successful.
He also said that from the day he is announced as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Labour Party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) will all move to PDP.
He said: “We started the journey of rescuing Edo state in 2006 and we were conscious of what we wanted to achieve. We said that we needed to take our state back and return it to the people and we did take the state back and returned it to the people. Along the line, something happened and the state is about to be hijacked again and we said no.
“This election is another challenge, they want to take the state from Edo people and return it to Businessmen and we are saying no because Edo state cannot return to Egypt.
“Edo state will continually move forward and the only way it can move forward is if power resides with the people. PDP says Power to the People not power to business friends or business colleagues.
“I will tell the leadership of PDP that some of us have been harassed, I have received a lot of intimidation but unfortunately for me, it is like a cross that God has asked me to carry. All my life has been a life of harassment and intimidation but in all the intimidations, I have always come out successful.
“This PDP primary is also going to be the same because now, they are buying people. They have bought all the elders but they have not been able to buy the youths. All the elders they have bought them except the elders that have the youths in mind. This is another challenge. It will get to a time when the money they are using to buy those guys, they will bring some of the money to me and I will use some of them to campaign so that PDP will win.”
Shaibu, however, said he’s not ruffled because he knows the result from the beginning.
“I am not looking ruffled because I know the result from the beginning. When I will win an election, I know. When I am not intimidated, that means that that election will not be successful. The intimidation and harassment show the character of my victory. When you don’t intimidate me, I don’t win an election.
“By the grace of God, our support is organic, it is not procured. I am not an aspirant that is being pushed, I am not an aspirant that is cut off from the people. Edo people and the voters know me, they touch me, they feel me,” he said.
He disclosed how he turn things around when some functions were given to him by the governor.
Shaibu said that he’s standing on the mandate of the people, adding that his support was organic and with Philip Shaibu, PDP will retain its seat in Edo state.
He said: “If you give me this ticket, from the day I am announced as the PDP candidate, Labour Party, APC, YPP, SDP, they will all move to PDP, there will be mass movement of people coming into our party.”
Responding on behalf of the National Working Committee (NWC), the Deputy National Organizing Secretary, Pascal Adigwe, said, “your Excellency, you have done well, we have your records, we know you as we know others. It is our hope and belief that in this race, you will run it well.
“We are only begging, let there be peace. Let us go into the primary’s and ultimately the election, putting peace in front. You know that we are not scared of the other side of peace but please let us go peacefully. Let us consider the wishes of the people we want to govern, how do they want to be governed and we can craft our aspirations and ambitions around what the people wants.
“You are not new in contesting election, we are not new in encountering you so you know what to do and you know that in the elections that you have contested in the past, you have always won, meaning that someone has also always lost and the person didn’t die. So, elections can be won or lost depending on how God wants it. All I am asking is, you win you stay, you lose you stay.”
