Crisis Hits Edo APC As Three Candidates Emerge For Guber Election
There is currently unrest within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) due to the emergence of three governorship candidates from parallel primary elections held on Saturday in Benin, ahead of the Edo State governorship election scheduled for September 21.
This platform had announced earlier that during the primary elections, Dennis Idahosa, a member of the House of Representatives, was declared the winner by the chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee, Governor Hope Uzodimma, at Protea Hotel in Benin City.
However, Senator Monday Okpebholo was announced as the winner by the Returning Officer for the election, Dr Stanley Ugboaja, at the residence of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
Additionally, the local government returning officers for the APC governorship primary election declared Anamero Sunday Dekeri as the victor of the competition.
The local government returning officers’ spokesman, Ojo Babatunde, declared the results on Saturday night, revealing that Dekeri, the Etsako Federal Constituency representative in the House of Representatives, garnered 25,384 votes to surpass his closest competitor, Dennis Idahosa, who received 14,127 votes.
However, the APC Stakeholders Forum, under the leadership of Emmanuel Godwin, emphasized during a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday that Governor Uzodimma does not have the authority to take over the roles and responsibilities of the local government returning officers in the electoral process.
He said, “We wish to therefore state categorically that the purported announcement is null and void, and it should be disregarded in its entirety.”
In response to the simultaneous declarations made yesterday, the APC’s National Working Committee firmly maintained that only the committee led by Governor Uzodinma possesses the constitutional mandate to disclose the outcomes of the Edo governorship primary election.
The party’s national publicity secretary, Felix Morka, in a statement late Saturday, said the public should disregard any results announced by “unauthorized persons”.
“The attention of the National Working Committee of our great party has been drawn to a live broadcast on major national television stations and online news outlets of results of the ongoing Edo State APC governorship primary election by some unauthorized persons,” Morka said.
“We wish to state categorically that only the Governor Hope Uzodinma-led Edo State APC Governorship Primary Election Committee is duly authorized to undertake the final collation and announcement of results of the primary election in the state.
“We urge all party members, officials in the state, and the public to disregard the said announcement of results by these unauthorized persons,” he added.
Recall, however, that the national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, while inaugurating Governor Uzodinma’s committee last Thursday, said, “Whatever you (committee) do, the contestants are free to appeal. That is why we have an appeals committee which is like the Supreme Court.”
