Ahead of the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Dino Melaye, has called on residents of the state not to be intimidated by the threat and violence allegedly orchestrated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
Addressing journalists after a meeting of Kogi PDP stakeholders from the three Senatorial zones of the state, with the members of the National Working Committee (NWC) at the party headquarters in Abuja, Melaye said the meeting had adopted a strategy to wrest power from APC in the state.
“They should not be Intimidated by the threat, violence, the humiliation by the APC, it should not deter them from exercising their Democratic rights. I want to assure you that we will protect our people.”
“We have never had it so bad in the history of Kogi State. Our people were impoverished, salaries have not been paid, pension have not been paid, gratuity has not been paid, the health sector is non existent, in fact all the General Hospitals in the state are mere consulting clinics.
“Education has gone moribund, this is what the PDP is coming to ameliorate and palate. I want to assure you that by the grace of God. With the resolutions of this meeting, with the strategy adopted in this meeting, PDP is good to go in Kogi State.”
Speaking before going into a close door session, acting National Chairman of the party Ambassador Umar Damagum, said the party had already seen prospects in the Kogi election, adding that the meeting is to know the challenges and to know how to work on the reconciliation before the election.
Damagum said, “This reconciliation will take three stages from the ward, local government and state. I am glad most of the Senior Stakeholders are here and they are supposed to anchor that reconciliation. Because we from outside the state we can only encourage you to work on the reconciliation.
“I am delightful to tell you that the Osun State Governor who is the Chairman of the Kogi Campaign committee has promised that he will go to each zone to seat down with you on a Zonal basis. He will campaign in all these places and he is very much alive to this responsibility in Kogi.
“In this meeting, we want your leaders to tell us where they want us to come in, so that we can work together for victory.”
Some of the Kogi stakeholders presents at the meeting were, Prince Shola Akomode, Stephen Olorufemi, Tunde Ogbeha, Idris Wada, Kola Ologbondiyan, Patrick Adaba, Philip Salau among others.
