APC on course to win 2023 presidential election – Oshiomhole

The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday predicted the party’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.

Oshiomhole, who addressed State House correspondents at the end of a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, dismissed the chances of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the election.

He said the APC has 23 governors who are working hard for the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ‘s victory in the election.

Five PDP governors – Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) – have boycotted the party’s preparations for the election over the continued retention of Iyorchia Ayu as the party’s national chairman.

Oshiomhole said: “You now have the G-5 governors who said the understanding we reached in Asaba, voluntarily, both by PDP and APC governors, they stand by that agreement.

“(They said) that leaders must have character, and that if you are not yet president and you are not obeying agreement, and Nigerians are talking of national unity, you disobeyed the provision of your party constitution, which talks about rotation in order to service that unity, and you can go to some parts of the country and say ‘don’t vote for Igbo, don’t vote for Yoruba’.

READ ALSO: Obi a serial importer, contributes to unemployment in Nigeria — Oshiomhole

“Those are very damaging statements. It would have been better if you said ‘don’t vote for this person, Obi; don’t vote for Tinubu’. That is fine. You talk to their people. But when you talk about race — don’t vote for an Igbo man — so, if he’s Igbo, no matter how good, he’s a bad man in his eyes; if he’s Yoruba, no matter how good, he’s a bad man in his eyes — at a time when we need national unity.

“If you ask me how we are doing, we are doing very well. Whereas the other is now battling with five governors that backed out and you find out how many governors they have, we have 23.

“Now, if you add 23 to five — I’m not saying the five are with us, but we have 23 with five, I guess that’s 28. If you subtract 28 from 36, it means only eight governors, in fact, seven, because the other one in APGA is not there.

“So, while he has seven governors working for him, we have 23 working for us and we have five who are neutral. You know when you are voting, when I was in ILO, you vote for, against, or abstain. Abstinence is as good as voting against.”

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