The immediate past Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), General Charles Airiavbere (Rtd), on Monday, said that Edo State must align with the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, at the federal level rather than remaining with the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
According to the Chieftain of APC, “How can the heartbeat be in another party and then you still say it is the heartbeat of the nation? It doesn’t work like that.”
Airiavbere stated this while declaring his intention to contest the 2024 Edo State governorship election before the people of Oredo ward 1 of APC in Benin.
He said that reclaiming the state from PDP back to the APC is a task that must be achieved in the coming governorship election in Edo, adding that the state is known as the heartbeat of the nation and it must maintain that toga.
“In 2016, I left the PDP and joined the APC because that was the government at the federal level. I have always insisted that Edo State remains under the federal government because this is the heartbeat of the nation.
“We cannot continue like that, we must trust the government at the federal level and we must key in, that we return this state to the APC government, is a task that must be done and that is why I decided to throw my cap into the ring.
Airiavbere said that APC as a party must field its best candidate which he represents.
“In 2016, we contested, Obaseki was the flagbearer of the APC and we supported him, 2020, we had a consensus that produced Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu and that is why when I decided to come out, I said it is the turn of General Charles (GC).
“The changes in NDDC took place in the last few days of August, where I was the last immediate past Executive Director, Finance and Administration where I spent Eight months.
“There was an effective change in the system to make sure that the nine Niger Delta states, for which the NDDC was established, have a new direction and I can tell you, those last eight months were eight years in operations to make sure that the policies for which NDDC was established was reshaped and redesigned.
“This is an opportunity for me to give you my scorecard of what we have done in NDDC. When I got there, we didn’t have approved budgets from 2021, 2022 and 2023 and these are things we put in place in less than five months of my staying in NDDC.
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