Benin City, the capital of Edo State, is set to host the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) followers from all over the federation today.
Leading the pack is President Goodluck Jonathan, the party’s standard-bearer in the 2015 presidential poll. Part of the President’s itinerary during the visit, would be his official commissioning of the road from Oluku, on the outskirts of Benin, to Dawson in the centre of the acclaimed ancient city, which the Federal Ministry of Works rehabilitated.
Jonathan would also showcase the projects that his administration is undertaking in Edo State. The President would use the opportunity to talk about the dualisation of the Benin-Okene Road, which his administration is also handling.
Reliable sources that preferred to speak under anonymity, told Saturday Independent that the rally, contrary to insinuations from some opposition elements, is not a zonal event organised by the PDP and not the pro-Jonathan Transformation Agenda of Nigeria (TAN).
Some of the top shots of the party expected at the event are the governors and deputy governors of all the six states that make up the South-South geopolitical zone and their aides, as well as some of the President’s aides and PDP stalwarts from across the country.
As early as Thursday afternoon an advance party of about 100 heavily armed security operatives, made up mainly of the police and the men of the Department of State Security (DSS), arrived Benin.