Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Saturday said he led his supporters out of the All Progressives Congress because of the party’s lawlessness.

Obaseki said this while addressing supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party in Benin during the flag-off of his reelection campaign.

The governor urged his supporters not to resort to violence no matter the level of provocation noting that supporters of the APC were trying to instigate violence to scare people from coming out to vote come September 19.

Obaseki said, “We left them because of their lawlessness. We will not, no matter how provoked resort to the same lawlessness. I want to thank you and assure you that God has given us victory.

“We understand that the opposition party has now resorted to violence, please we do not want bloodshed. One of their billionaires hired a lot of thugs today around the Obas palace and I hear they are busy destroying cars with PDP flag. Do not retaliate, God will retaliate for us.

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“Four years ago, I made a promise to you that we are going to transform Edo State, that Edo is the heartbeat of Nigeria, the transformation of Edo will lead to the transformation of Nigeria and by the grace of God, that is beginning to happen and it must happen in this election.”

Speaking about the PDP flag given to him and the Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, he said, “This mandate that has been given to us is simple, what you are saying as a party is we like what you have done in the last four years, please go back and continue and improve on what you have done.

“In the last four years, we put our people first. Nothing else matters more than our people even though that put us in trouble but we didn’t care because the voice of our people is the voice of God.

“Because we were working for our people, God almighty has supported us. That is why we are here today because what has happened to us in the politics of this country can best be described as miraculous.”

Earlier, Obaseki, who was accompanied by his counterparts, Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), and Nyesom Wike (Rivers) visited the palace of the Oba of Benin.

There were reports of skirmishes and vandalism outside the palace but security operatives were able to restore calm.