PDP: Ganduje’s ‘APC will capture south-west’ remark reckless

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has tackled Abdullahi Ganduje, chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), over a recent remark.

Speaking during a stakeholders’ meeting in Akure, the Ondo state capital, on Sunday, Ganduje said the APC is ready to “capture” all six states in the south-west geopolitical zone.

The Ondo governorship election will hold on November 16.

The APC currently controls four south-west states in Ekiti, Ondo, Lagos, and Ogun, while the PDP has two states in the region — Oyo and Osun — in its kitty.

“In this geopolitical zone, we must deliver 100 percent in favour of APC. Therefore, in Ondo state, you must be at the forefront. The two other states — Oyo and Osun — we will capture them,” Ganduje said.

“But I will not reveal our secret. We are strategising. Everything must be 100 percent behind President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

Addressing journalists on Monday in Abuja, Debo Ologunagba, PDP spokesperson, said Ganduje’s comments pose a threat to democracy.

“What he (Ganduje) said was that the APC was going to capture Ondo and by extension the south-west. It is reckless and threatening,” Ologunagba said.

“If you look at the dictionary meaning of the word ‘capture’, it involves forceful control/occupation and enslavement. We cannot be enslaved in our own land.

“The south-west has always been the bastion of opposition and democracy. For Ganduje to come to Ondo state to issue such a threat is worrisome.

“That was what scuttled the first republic, the ‘wetie’ in the 1960s. History repeated itself in 1983 when the ruling National Party of Nigerians (NPN) tried to force Akin Omoboriowo as governor in Ondo state. History is threatening to repeat itself.”

The PDP said all attempts by the APC to force itself on the people of Ondo will be resisted.