Ahead of Saturday’s gubernatorial and State Assembly elections, nine political parties have thrown their weight behind the presidential candidate. People’s Democratic Party (PDP)Ladipupo Adebutu, in Ogun state.
The party announced the development at a program held in Abeokuta, the state capital, on Friday.
The incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun, is seeking re-election as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who won the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.
Speaking at the programme, PDP deputy governorship aspirant, Adekunle Akinlade, admitted that the party could not defeat APC in the election without the collaboration and support of other political parties.
Mr. Akinlade further accused Governor Abiodun of planning to rig the election.
Mr. Akinlade said: “PDP alone cannot defeat APC in Ogun State. We must be ready to show. We must cooperate with other parties.
“The important thing is that we win and save Ogun State. This election, it is clear that Abiodun is going to rig. What happened at the end can be done again, but we will not allow people to do it again. That is why we must collaborate so that rigging cannot be done. Rigging can be done if no collaboration.We can’t do it alone.
The parties that expressed support for PDP are Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), Action Democratic Party (ADP), All Peoples Party (APP), Allied People’s Movement (APM), Because Of Our Tomorrow (BOOT party). , African Action Congress (AAC), Young Progressive Party (YPP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
The PDP gubernatorial candidate, while addressing members of the nine parties, said the move became imperative following the results of the Presidential and National Assembly elections last Saturday.
Mr. Adebutu vowed that the PDP will not allow the APC to rig out of the governorship election this time.
He called on the parties to work together with the PDP to oust the Governor.
Mr. Adebutu said: “If we do not do our part and we allow him (Abiodun) again, if we allow him to fulfill his desire to be Governor, we will fail and it will be the end of Ogun State, we will have lost the opportunity to save the State .
“If Peter Obi and Abubakar Atiku had worked together, we would have won the election despite all the rigging and that is why we should have a meeting, we should have the association that we are doing now.
“We have to unite, as pieces of each other will not get anywhere. These people (APC) in government, they have the power of incumbency, naturally, they have more money.
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“We can help save the situation by coming together and save Ogun State. Nine parties plus PDP means 10, 10 of us united can succeed.
“We are all together and together we will all be partners in this movement, we must understand that we are fighting for the life of our country, not just our political life, we are fighting for the life of our country. We are fighting for the welfare and welfare of the people.
“We will win because even if the system fails, we are ready to fix it and plug the difference. We know what they (APC) are doing and we will make sure that what they are doing will not be done this time.
In his speech, the chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), Sanyaolu Abayomi, said the party decided to endorse Mr. Adebutu after a thorough evaluation of the front line candidates.
In another program on Saturday, the defeated House of Representatives candidate from the Labor Party, Tolulope Philips, also supported Mr. Adebutu.
Mr. Philips contested the seat for Abeokuta South federal constituency but lost to the APC candidate, Afolabi Afuape.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Tolulope said he decided to work for Mr. Adebutu because the Labor Party did not have a governorship candidate in the state.
He described the PDP candidate as the most credible among the gubernatorial contestants in the state.
“The Labor Party has no governorship candidate. What we want in Ogun is progress. Don’t think about Saturday, let’s consider the consequences. I am not collecting anything from APC and PDP. I am doing this because I want to get the dividends of democracy for our people in Ogun state.We must not allow our state to continue like this.
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