Aug 16 by-election: We assist Tinubu, not APC candidate – Ogun PDP

The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Tuesday denied that the party openly endorsed the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and effectively conceded defeat ahead of the August 16 by-election.

The party described the allegation as a blatant lie, saying they only declared their support for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

DAILY POST reports that the party chairman, Abayomi Tella, and its gubernatorial candidate in the 2023 elections, Ladi Adebutu, publicly threw their weight behind President Bola Tinubu’s second-term ambition in the 2027 general elections.

They made this known on Monday during the official campaign flag-off of Bolarinwa Oluwole, the PDP candidate for Remo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.

However, the party, in a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Kayode Adebayo, on Tuesday, clarified that the endorsement was only for President Tinubu and not the Ogun APC candidate.

The statement read, “The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ogun State has been drawn to another concoction of falsehood being shared on some social media platforms. The unfounded story has it that the Ogun PDP has openly endorsed the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and effectively conceded defeat ahead of the August 16 bye-election. What a blatant lie!

“In order to set the records straight and insulate innocent members of the public from the APC’s litany of misinformation and deliberate twists of facts, we make bold to remind them, again, that the electoral victory recorded by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023 was the imperative of power shift to the South.

“Also, it is fundamentally germane to clarify that our endorsement of President Tinubu would not affect our party’s candidates for the 2027 National Assembly elections and other state elections.”

He explained that the coming by-election is not in any way connected to the re-election bid of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“We are not unaware of the reasons why the APC attempted to twist the core of the matter. It is a tactical way, for the APC, of accepting the reality of another round of electoral defeat in the by-election.

“For the by-election and beyond, the PDP is particular about credible polls. There is no way the APC can stand a chance of winning any electoral contest in Ogun State again, especially following the abysmally poor management of the state,” the statement added.