Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate, has been warned not to be duped by any politicians claiming he can influence Niger-Delta votes by Hon. Farah Dagogo, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member of the House of Representatives from the Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in Rivers State.
Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ibrahim Lawal, Dagogo asserted that no one, no matter how well positioned, could tell another person how to vote or not.
The former candidate for governor of Rivers State vowed to support Atiku and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, without reservation on behalf of the Niger Delta people.
Dagogo claimed that a 10-million-person march in support of the presidential aspirant was being prepared in the area while dismissing ideas of protest votes against the PDP.
The 10-million-man march would be organized in the upcoming days across the Niger Delta states, according to the lawmaker, whose detention was purportedly ordered by Governor Nyesom Wike, in order to further inspire the populace and demonstrate to skeptics that the region was in support of the PDP.
He asserted that the PDP had a history of success in the Niger Delta from 1999 to the present and that 2023 will be no different.
“Let no one be fooled,” Dagogo commanded. Election administration in Nigeria has changed. The people have the ability to cast ballots. No one, no matter how highly situated, can tell anyone who to vote for or not, because the people themselves, through their PVCs and ballots, make that decision.
“To our people, PDP has been trustworthy and just. Through our son, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, and other members of this party, we were able to secure the presidency of this nation.
“Plans for a 10-million-man march in support of Atiku and Okowa through the Niger Delta states, particularly Rivers State, are well along. We have talked to the voters—those who will actually cast ballots, not just political sycophants—and we have been successful in inspiring a significant number of them.
According to Track News, Wike said he would tell the people of Rivers State who to vote for while speaking at the launching of the renovated Waterlines Building in Port Harcourt on August 17.
I know who you will vote for, and we will let you know who they are, he continued.
Most of you are unaware that certain people are coming here with no plans other than to run for governor.
We owe Rivers State a lot because it has done so much for us. I owe this state a great deal for giving me the chance, and I won’t let it wander and fall into the hands of armed robbers. I won’t let that happen.
