From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
The historical Town of Igala kingdom was Agog when the Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka stormed Idah to receive the royal blessings of the Ata and address his supporters officially.
Alhaji Muritala expressed optimism in the INEC, Security Agencies and all stakeholders in exercising professionalism in the conduct of the forthcoming governorship election.
He made the disclosure when he addressed his crowd of supporters from all parts of the state who converge on Idah, the headquarters of Idah Local Government Area of the state.
He lamented at the state Government which is concerned about his rising profile among the electorate and is bent on stopping him from the race, insisting that he was far from enjoying a level playing ground since the kick-off of the electioneering process.
According to him, the state has not accorded him a level playing ground like others, stressing that their calculation and projections were to create a bottleneck in the wheel of his success.
The SDP Governorship Candidate admitted his confidence in INEC and security agencies in being professional in exercising their responsibilities, adding that all things being equal and with the massive support of voters, he has become a candidate to beat.
“I have an agenda for the state which is holistic and not sectional. My desire is to see our state better than it is now. Although there are mounting challenges -from the poor situation of civil servants to poor infrastructures – we are out to correct them, to make the state what it ought to be with her God-given endowments and these are the reasons that I offered myself for the race.
” My manifesto is explicit on what we intend to achieve for the state. My Seven Point Agenda will be vigorously pursued if elected and I’m confident that with their massive votes, we are going to achieve our aims.
” But we are not comfortable with the action of the state government against me. This morning, a circular has been issued to Traditional rulers not to receive me in their palaces, but I’m undaunted because I have infectious followers across the state, who wholeheartedly accepted my candidature, making me a candidate to beat in this election.”
He called on his supporters to remain within the ambit of the law, no matter the intimidation, or harassment and not to act according to their provocations.
”We are peace-loving and law-abiding people. I appeal to my supporters across the state not to be Perturbed as the constitution guaranteed freedom of association and to move freely to campaign and we are doing this with strict compliance with the law of the the land.”
” We are working with INEC to sensitise our people to collect their Permanent Voters Cards PVCs and to educate them on what is expected of them throughout this electioneering period.”; he advised.
