• Plan to adopt Edo strategy will be resisted, party tells APC chairman
• ‘Nigerians losing hope in electoral process, democracy’
• Advises against repeat of 1979 crisis in Ondo
• Ondo govt disburses N220m soft loans to artisans, business owners

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ondo State chapter, yesterday, fumed at the remarks made by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, that the APC would adopt the template used in Edo State to win the forthcoming off-cycle poll in Ondo State.

It said that the gloating of Ganduje was an indication that the Edo governorship election was allegedly rigged.

The PDP, in a statement by its state’s Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei, said that with such vituperations by someone like Ganduje, the people would continue to lose faith in the electoral process.

The opposition party, while emphasising that the people of Ondo State cannot be cowed or intimidated, warned that any attempt to subvert the will of the people would be resisted, stressing that the 1979 scenario is still fresh.

The statement reads in part: “The entire world was not only embarrassed but ashamed of what Prof. Mahmood Yakubu’s sham called the Edo State governorship election held on Saturday, September 21, 2024.

“While the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police were yet to clear themselves of partisanship and complicity in the election, National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, who flew into Benin with a police helicopter, was gloating in Abuja that Ondo and Anambra would receive the Edo treatment when governorship elections hold in these states.

“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ondo State chapter, believes that most Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora are beginning to lose hope in our hard-earned democracy when major players like Ganduje openly allude to the fact that their votes will not count as long as men like him hold influential positions.

“Ganduje robbed salt on injury by saying that his party intends to control all five southeastern states.

“Perhaps, it is important to remind Ganduje that Ondo State is not one of the states where the people can be intimidated or cowed.

“Let Ganduje first give the ‘Edo treatment” to his people in Kano State, where he was defeated by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) during last year’s gubernatorial election.”

MEANWHILE, Ondo State Government has begun the disbursement of N220 million to artisans and small business owners to improve the economy of the state.

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, while presenting cheques to the beneficiaries in Akure, the state capital, said that the economic impact of artisans and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) could not be underestimated on the overall growth of the economy.

Aiyedatiwa, who was represented by his deputy, Olayide Adelami, emphasised that the soft loan was one of his administration’s strategies to boost the economy of the state.

He, therefore, urged the beneficiaries to be faithful with repayment of the loan.

The governor further said that his administration had invested massively in other areas of the economy.

He said that apart from empowering the people with loans, his administration had demonstrated unwavering commitment to various policies, programmes and initiatives aimed at uplifting the people.