AIM launches campaign council for PDP's Ighodalo, Ogie

The Asue Ighodalo Movement (AIM), a prominent support group campaigning for the election of Dr Asue Ighodalo and Barr Osarodion Ogie, candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State, has unveiled an extensive Independent Campaign Council (ICC) to achieve its goal.

According to a document made available to journalists in Benin, AIM’s ICC comprises 300 carefully selected and dedicated members of the PDP from across the state. These members represent the 192 wards, 18 local government areas, and the three senatorial zones.

The AIM ICC is strategically organised with a Management/Trustees board led by High Chief Frank Momoh. The State Campaign Council is chaired by Honourable Daniel Asekhame, with Chief Tony Alile as the deputy chairman and Emmanuel Osayi serving as the secretary.

Various sub-divisions exist within the ICC, including a 13-member security team, a 31-member mobilisation and sensitisation team, senatorial coordinators for each district (with Edo Central having two), local government area coordinators for all 18 LGAs, and a total of 192 ward coordinators across the state.

Speaking via telephone, founder and coordinator Honourable Asekhame, who also chairs the State Campaign Council of the ICC, expressed strong motivation for the campaign. He emphasised that Dr Asue Ighodalo is the most suitable candidate for the governorship, noting his competence, capacity, and character. Asekhame highlighted Ighodalo’s impressive pedigree and the need to prevent the state from being controlled by those he described as “puppeteers.”

“Your question is very valid because a lot of people will really ask, why are these people doing all this? We at AIM are convinced that Dr Asue Ighodalo is the best candidate for the job. He is best by far. He is competent, he has the capacity, and he has the character. At least, his antecedent over the years amply supports that claim. Two, he has a rich pedigree that he can’t afford to play with. His father is well known, his mother, well known. A princess and the first woman Perm Sec in Nigeria. So we are very convinced that with him in the saddle, Edo State is surely in safe hands. And so, we are determined to have him because he is the best out of the lot.

“On the flip side is a gang up against Edo State, a gang up against the people and a gang up against their children and their future by a band of puppeteers. They know very well that their candidate does not have what is needed to govern a highly enlightened and sophisticated state like Edo, no competence, no capacity, no simple knowledge, no self-confidence but they are throwing everything in to make sure they have their puppet as a governor. With that they will be able to control the state for their own selfish ends. We owe it a duty to ourselves and generation of Edolites unborn to stop them. That’s the motivation in a nutshell,” Asekhame stated.

He further clarified that with about two and a half months of campaign remaining, the AIM’s independent campaign council is committed to making the best use of the time through house-to-house, street-to-street, and market-to-market strategies in its sensitisation and campaign efforts.