Edo State Governorship Election: PDP Candidate Asue Ighodalo Vows to Brighten Faces of Edo People

Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State, has pledged to alleviate the suffering of the people of the state if elected. Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, Ighodalo said his decision to run for governor was to ensure that he works hard to ameliorate the pain and suffering of the people of Edo State.

Ighodalo, a 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 assured voters in the state that he was not coming into government to serve the interest of any godfather.

The forthcoming governorship election in Edo State has top contenders, including Ighodalo, Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), and Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Ighodalo, who has been round the whole state, 192 wards, has been talking to people, high and low, and feels their pain, lack, and discountenance.

“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,” Ighodalo said.

He added that many people in the state do not have food, cannot pay for food, medical services, or their children’s education. “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,” he said.

Ighodalo said that 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 also criticized some policies of the Federal Government, saying they 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 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.