By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it has no reason to harass anyone as being alleged, because there is already a “mass exodus” of the supporters of Governor Godwin Obaseki to the party.
The PDP dismissed as propaganda the claim by the state All Progressives Congress (APC) that some people are being harassed not to leave the PDP.
Obaseki’s Media Adviser, Crusoe Osagie, said the PDP has run out of membership cards because of demand by the governor’s supporters who are defecting from the APC and other parties to the PDP.
“To address the growing demand for our membership cards, the party’s hierarchy had to place orders for the mass production of PDP membership cards through several vendors,” Osagie said.
“This mass exodus of people into the PDP was widely reported in the media. So why would a well established party like the PDP, with tested structures and verifiable track records for electoral triumphs in Edo State, harass anyone desiring to leave the party?”
According to Osagie, the APC is trying to deflect attention away from its credibility crisis with the status of its governorship candidate, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, “who has been jumping from campaign grounds to the court to face his N700m criminal trial.”
He added: “Marketing a defective product like Ize-Iyamu must have been frustrating and burdensome for the APC, as he is clearly the worst candidate that any party has presented for elections since the country’s return to democracy in 1999.
“No campaign manager has had the task of selling a candidate that shuttles between EFCC cell, the courts and campaign grounds, in our recent political history.
“However, churning out falsehoods and propaganda will not help APC’s case either.”