Tijani Adeyemi
Ahead of Saturday’s governorship election scheduled for March 18, Elder statesman and leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Edwin Clark has declared his blessing for Ken Pella, the Labour Party candidate in Delta state.
This is even as Pela said that the chances of the Labour Party winning Delta state on Saturday is very bright, adding that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) acted with impunity for not transmitting presidential election results as it was supposed to do.
Clark, who gave his blessing to Pela when he paid a courtesy call on him on Monday in Abuja, said, “you will have my blessings and my sons are in the field, whoever follows the process and wins is my governor.
“My hope is whoever becomes the governor of Delta State, my home state, should be a straightforward person, competent, respected and of good character, not a person that will eat our money at the expense of the state. Nothing can prevent me from giving my blessing, so God will therefore guide you.”
Fielding questions from newsmen after the visit, Pela said that this election circle is different, as power resides with the people, adding that the chances of the Labour Party are bright because the people are solidly behind them.
The Delta Labour Party governorship candidate, who said that their blessing of Clark to him is more than words, mocked the ruling party in the state, which was beaten by his party during the presidential election.
He said: “The chances of the Labour Party are very bright in Delta and I am sure that we are all aware that in the last election, the PDP, the ruling party in Delta was beaten for the first time by an opposition party.
“This election circle is different, the power resides with the people. Our chances are very bright because we believe the people are solidly behind us. We will win this election fair and square.
“We did not have any fear going into the last election, we felt with the new electoral Act, BVAS there was no fear and INEC promised us severally, but they did certain things that we did not expect, they acted with impunity, against the law they did not transmit the results as they were supposed to, we will not let that happen again. We are prepared for them this time.
“You heard what he said, he has given his words to someone else, but he gave his blessings to me and that is more precious than his words I believe that this journey has been worthwhile and I believe that Deltans will hear loud and clear the message that has been sent.”
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