Deji Elumoye in Abuja
Former governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, has assured President Bola Tinubu that the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was united and good to go for the upcoming gubernatorial election in the state.
Oshiomhole, who spoke with newsmen on yesterday after paying a Sallah homage to Tinubu in Lagos, expressed confidence in the chances of the APC winning the 2024 Edo State governorship poll.
He said, “We are due for elections. We are happy and we are perfecting all the arrangements to ensure that this coming election. We will win because our house is united. We sorted out all the issues arising from primaries 100 percent.”
The Edo North Senator said the party has already put in place a “campaign council” and was eagerly awaiting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the election timetable, to kickstart the campaigns on April 24.
While expressing confidence in APC’s chances, Oshiomhole acknowledged that the party’s opponents, including the Labour Party, were also facing internal crises.
According to him, “Our opponents have one crisis or the other, even the Labour Party has their crisis so at least APC is not in any form of crisis.”
The former national chairman of the APC said he briefed Tinubu on the developments in the state, noting that the president was supportive of the party’s efforts.
“We are all waiting for INEC on April 24 to get started. So, I briefed him on all of that we are happy and he is there for us as a father but we are not going to sleep believing the father will do it for us because he is not going to come to Edo to vote,” he said.
Oshiomhole emphasised that the party would have to do the “voting” and “mobilisation” to capture the “campaign message that captures the imagination that Edo people can relate to.”
Oshiomhole also said he came to pay Sallah homage to the president and to “appreciate some of the positive developments we have begun to see.”
He was specific about the strengthening of the Naira, which he said has appreciated from as low as N2,000 to the dollar to the current level of around N1,100 to a dollar.
“I read this morning a story from a foreign media that says the naira is probably the best currency in 2024, given the fact that in Nigeria’s history, once the naira goes down, it never bounces back again,” he stated.
Oshiomhole noted that many Nigerians had resorted to dollar speculation when the Naira hit 2,000, fearing it would continue its downward spiral, but have since suffered “huge losses” as the currency regained strength.
The former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress credited the Central Bank of Nigeria’s effective management of the foreign exchange system for the naira’s recovery.
“We are beginning to see a central bank that has devised very effective tools to quietly manage the system in a way the naira is appreciating and finding its level,” he added.
