Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has pleaded with his supporters not to be disenfranchised but cast their votes for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections.
Amaechi adviced his supporters not to be discouraged by the outcome of the APC presidential primaries but to go all out and ensure the party emerges victorious at the polls.
Amaechi emerged second during the June 8 primaries in Abuja, losing out to former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
However, addressing thousands of his supporters who came to welcome him and follow him from the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, to the APC state secretariat in Port Harcourt, Amaechi said the regardless of how the feel about the outcome of the primaries, APC is the party they must vote for.
He said: “Please, in the contest for the presidency, we should know that we must go and vote for our party, no matter how angry you are, they have chosen, let’s go and vote for our party.
“For the stories you hear about the people who are gossiping how they are having meetings in France, let this be your own France. Vote for your party, don’t be afraid, just go home and do your work.
“Don’t be afraid, go home and work, that’s why I came, I came to thank you, I came to urge you to go home and work, let all of us be unit leaders, no more local government leaders, ward leaders.”
Rotimi Amaechi assured his supporters that rigging of elections has been reduced to the barest minimum and their votes will definitely count.
“If you check in INEC, they are no longer announcing ward results, they are announcing unit results. So let go home and win our units and bring our units home.
“Those days of meeting, writing results have all gone, we must praise INEC, praise the National Assembly for reducing the level of rigging, where people write results and INEC will just announce, now it is almost gone,” he added.
In his remarks, the state APC governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, said the APC will surely win the 2023 polls at the state and federal levels.