A governorship aspirant of the Oyo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Engineer Seyi Makinde, on Monday, said that the victory recorded by the party in last Saturday’s state Assembly by-election was a positive signal PDP would return to power in the Southwest geopolitical zone in 2019.
Makinde, in a statement made available to insideoyo.com in Ibadan on Monday, maintained that the victory was an indicator of the inescapable fate that would befall the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the zone come next year.
The PDP’s candidate for the bye-election, Debo Ogundoyin, who polled the total of 6,277 votes, had defeated the APC’s candidate, Olukunle Adeyemo, who polled 4,619 votes.
Makinde said that, “the electoral success, which came in spite of the several machinations of the APC, further settles the fact that Oyo State and indeed, the South-West, remains PDP stronghold where our great party commands genuine followership and support of citizens at the grassroots.”
The SDP governorship candidate in the 2015 election said he believes that with the victory, the party was poised to rally with the people to retake Oyo State as well as “their original states of Ogun, Osun, Ondo and even spread to Lagos State, after its inevitable victory in the forthcoming Ekiti governorship election.
He, therefore, urged members of the party in other parts of the country to leverage on “the support by Nigerians across board to ensure such landslide victories at all levels of elections, come 2019.
“The repositioned PDP, rallying with Nigerians, is set to retake all our original states, including Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kogi, Bauchi, Adamawa, Yobe, Edo, Imo and spread over to Zamfara and Borno states.”
While congratulating the newly-elected lawmaker, Ogundoyin, Makinde charged him to reciprocate the support he got and properly represent the people.