The South-East Zonal Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ali Odefa has declared that the 2027 general election will not be an ordinary exercise but a battle between hunger and survival.
He also said it would provide an opportunity for Nigerians to choose between good and evil.
Odefa said this in Enugu on Wednesday during the inauguration of the Caretaker Committees for Imo and Enugu states.
The party officials were sworn-in by the South East Zonal Secretary of PDP, Chief James Ugwu.
While describing the work ahead of the Committees as challenging, Odefa said the defections going on in the polity called for doggedness on the part of the 9-man committee members.
He said, “You have been called to serve and the job you have now is a very difficult job.
“In your States, everybody has gone to opposition parties. In Enugu for instance, the governor, commissioners, local government chairmen, Senators and House of Representatives have all gone to the then opposition party, the APC.
“It is their right to go wherever they want to go. So you know you have a herculean task, not expecting support from people in positions of power and authority.
“So, it calls for you to work very hard to get our party back to power.”
On the forthcoming election, Odefa said it was not “an ordinary election but a contest between good and bad, a contest between hunger and survival.
“It will not be PDP versus APC; it will be Nigerians versus APC. Nigerians are hungry and those who don’t have access to good schools, good hospitals, education, and not having access to meaningful employment will all come out to vote and will vote out APC.”
He also stressed that the party would continue to ward-off elements bent on destroying it for their selfish reasons.
“Unfortunately, we have some people in our party who are hell bent on destroying the party.
“And this is a party that made them, but they want to destroy it so that they can continue to get crumbs from the table of their masters in Abuja.
“But we will not allow it. We have been resisting them all the way with the state apparatus and everything that they are using against us,” he declared.
Speaking, the Caretaker Committee chairman of the party in Enugu State, Barr Steve Oruruo, reassured that the party still had the support of the people regardless of the detections taking place.
“I want to reassure you that we just don’t have God on our side, we have the people as well, because it is a struggle between qualitative voices and quantitative voices.
“By their side, they have quantitative voices but on our side we have both quantitative and qualitative voices.
“PDP will always rejuvenate with a thunder bolt that will become a tsunami which has become the fear of the opposition,” he stated.
He harped on credible choice of candidates ahead of primary elections, stressing that it would be the key to the party’s victory in 2027.
“If credible candidates become the flag bearers of the party, the party will be victorious,” he advised.
Also in his welcome speech, the chairman of the Imo State Caretaker Committee of the PDP, Ikenga Okere stated that the coming election in 2027 will be a test of the conscience of the people who have been plunged into hardship by the current party in power.
