A former Chief Whip of the Senate and Senator representing Edo South Senatorial district, Senator Roland Owie has urged Edo people to vote for Governor Godwin Obaseki in the 19 September Edo governorship election to enable him complete the good work he’s doing. He noted that victory for Obaseki in the election will give way to the shift of the governorship slot to Edo Central senatorial district in 2024.
Senator Owie stated this Saturday at Ilobi, Isi in a speech he delivered at a rally to herald his return to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According Senator Owie who was the governorship candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP in the 2003 Edo State governorship election, “my return to the Party would ensure that Governor Godwin Obaseki is re-elected for a 2nd term. Beyond the continuity in the progressive institutional policies, commendable and visible physical developments accomplished by the Obaseki-led administration, his second term would engender equity and co-existence, as the Governorship would then rightly move to Edo Central Senatorial District in 2024.
“Today, we sing a new song; lift a new banner that galvanizes our collective energy in the renewed quest for a great nation where all are free, where no man is oppressed, subjugated or branded, and where there is equality and liberty of self-expression”.
Senator Owie informed that his return to the PDP was informed by his desire to work with other men of conscience to get the nation back on track and called on all PDP members who left the party to back to to the party to join hands to salvage Nigeria.
“I have spent the better part of the last 17 years outside of the PDP family – save for a brief return between 2011 and 2015. Recent developments in the polity of our dear nation has reignited my conviction to realign with positive and progressive mainstream political forces on a rescue mission.
“Over the past 15 months, I have been consulting with political associates, former colleagues and Elder Statesmen on the need to get our Nation back on track. A recurring issue that emanated from that consultative process was the need for all founding members of the PDP to return to the Party so that it can achieve its strategic goal of emancipating Nigerians.
“Therefore, today I am returning to the PDP, the party I can call home, with a keen sense of purpose and a mission to work with the leadership and members in developing a sustainable developmental blueprint for Nigeria and jealously guarding the implementation of same.
“Finally, my dear Compatriots, I return to the PDP family today, confident in the fact that in all, I have God and the good people of Edo state and my teeming well-wishers all over the Globe beside and behind me”.
While paying glowing tribute to Isi sons and daughters who worked so hard in the past to develop Isi communities, Owie commended Governor Godwin Obaseki whom he described as a worthy Isi son who has distinguished himself in his first tenure as Governor of Edo State.
“I also recognize the sterling accomplishments of a worthy Isi son – Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, Executive Governor of Edo State, for being an exemplar of our age-long values.
“On that note I call on all our supporters to rise up today and lift with me the symbol of our pride – the Umbrella, an exemplar of Royalty in the Benin Empire – and march shoulder to shoulder in our typical heroic step from the land of our ancient past to a glorious future for our State and Country.
“Together, we shall build, for generations unborn, a country where we will not alleviate poverty but overthrow poverty; one where we will not reduce injustice but imprison injustice; and a Nation where we will not reduce inequality but abolish all privileges that obstruct equal opportunities and entrench equity”.
