Nigerians may surprise the political elite and parties in 2023 – Obaseki.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State, has urged political leaders throughout the country to stand up and alleviate the suffering of Nigerians as a result of poor governance and inefficiency, or face a surprise from the people in the next 2023 general elections.

Obaseki told journalists in Benin City that Nigerians were tired of the inefficiencies and failures of government officials and other representatives and would vote them out if nothing was done to change the narrative.

He stated that Nigerians were keenly monitoring the country’s political condition and were ready to shock political parties with their new political orientation.

“I am sure we are all keenly observing the growth of the country, particularly the evolving political development,” he remarked. Nigerians are clearly fed up with the administration and those who represent them in government. We can see it in their social media reactions and the direction of their behaviors and emotions.

“We would be hurting ourselves as a government and as representatives of our people if we ignored the changes that are coming and continued to assume that things were the same.” As we begin to see, we will all be startled.

“People are coming to realize that they need to demand more from those in government and those in charge of their resources and commonwealth; people will vote for their preferred candidates or interests.”

“No political party today can beat its chest and say they will win or have a decisive triumph in the country’s next election,” he continued.

“We are fortunate in Edo State because we saw it coming and put out the roadmap, but our difficulty is that many people don’t accept it because they believe we have time and things will continue to go the way they always do.”

MEANWHILE, there was concern in the state on Tuesday as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the list of candidates for the Peoples Democratic Party primary following the political standoff that hampered the conduct of the election and the subsequent creation of factions.

The list resolved the supremacy dispute between Obaseki and Chief Dan Orbih, Vice Chairman, South-South of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), when the electoral umpire showed the list from the Orbih faction’s election, thereby officially recognising candidates of the faction during the party primaries.

The PDP held its primaries across the country in May of this year, but in Edo State, both factions staged simultaneous primaries, producing candidates for different elective posts at both ends.

A visit by our correspondent to INEC headquarters in Benin yesterday revealed that INEC had put a thorough list on its public notice board, and all of the PDP candidates on the list were the winners of the Orbih faction’s primaries.